THE DOCTRIIE OF BAPTISMS. 



ANCIENT PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE BAPTISM 
OF CHRIST, BY JOHN, IN JORDAN. 




This picture is copied from the door of the Church at Beneventum, 
which was oue of the first cities in Italy where the Gospel was intro- 
duced. It is rudely executed, and extremely ancient. 




This is a representation in Mosaic of the Baptism of Christ in 
Jordan, preserved in the Church, in Cosmedin, at Ravenna, which 
was erected, A. D. 401. 

In the centre is Christ our Saviour in the river Jordan. On a rock 
stands John the Baptist, in his left hand is a bent rod, and his right 
hand holds a patera, shell; from which he pours water on the head 
of the Redeemer ; over whom descends the dove, the symbol of the 
Holy Ghost, with expanded wings, and emitting rays of glory and 
grace. 



THE 



DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



SCRIPTURAL EXAMINATION 



OF THE QUESTIONS RESPECTING 



I. THE TRANSLATION OF BAPTIZO, 
II. THE MODE OF BAPTISM, 
HI. THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



BY 

GEO. D. ARMSTRONG, D.D., 

PASTOE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN OHTTROH IN NORFOLK, VA. 



NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER 

87T AND 879 BROADWAY. 

1857. 






/tests' 



^ 



>l* 



\*> 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, 



LC control Number 
tm P 96 027445 



VT. H. TINSON, STBBBOTYPBB. GEORGE KUSSELL 4 CO., PKINTBBS. 



P E E F A E 



In the following treatise, the author's aim has been, to give 
a discussion of the subject of Baptism : 

First. — Purely Scriptural. — Every passage of Scripture, 
in which the words " baptize " or " baptism " occur ; or 
which in the author's view, or that of prominent Baptist 
writers, can properly claim attention, in a full and fair Scrip- 
tural examination of this subject, is considered, and a correct 
exposition of it attempted. In order to avoid frequent repe- 
tition, these different passages have been classified ; and 
hence, they will not be found in the order in which they 
occur in the word of God. But, by means of the Scriptural 
Index at the end of the volume, the reader will be able to 
turn to the exposition of any particular passage, at his 
pleasure. 

The Word of God, and that alone, can bind the faith of 
the Church ; and in the following treatise, to the Word of 
God, and to that alone, is the appeal made. Hence, the title 



Vlll PREFACE. 

of the work — " The Doctrine of Baptisms " (Heb. vi. 2), 
i.e., the teachings of Scripture respecting baptisms. 

Secoi^d. — Adapted to the present state of the controversy 
in the Christian Church. — The formation of the " American 
and Foreign Bible Society," for the avowed purpose of intro- 
ducing words equivalent to our English word "immerse," as 
a translation of the Greek " haptizo" into all new versions 
of the Scriptures, which may be required in the progress of 
the Foreign Missionary w r ork, and more recently, the forma- 
tion of the " Bible Union," for the purpose of substituting 
for our English Bible, an English translation, in which similar 
changes shall be made, have given to the " translation ques- 
tion," a practical importance, as great as that which belongs 
to the questions respecting " the mode " and " the subjects " 
of baptism. Indeed, at the present time, this " translation 
question," is the prominent question before the Church. 

To adapt the discussion to this new phase of the contro- 
versy, the author has given to the question respecting the 
translation of baptizo, a distinct and separate examination. 

Third. — Popular. — The author has aimed to treat even the 
translation question, in such a way, that any person, by the 
aid of the English Bible alone, and without a knowledge of 
the Greek, may reach an intelligent decision. In any such 
question as this, if we attempt to go back of the authority 
of Lexicons (and Dr. Carson, one of the ablest of modern 
Baptist writers, admits that he " has all the lexicographers 
and commentators against him,") * we must appeal to the use 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 55. 



PREFACE. IX 

of the word in passages, in which, from the context, its mean- 
ing can be determined. By means of garbled quotations; 
or the quotation of some passages and the omission of others, 
of equal, or even greater importance, a plausible argument 
may be constructed in support of a false translation. But 
when, as in the present case, the appeal is to the Bible alone, 
a book in the hands of all, either in the original, or else, in 
a translation regarded by all as substantially correct, no such 
difficulty can arise. No imperfect or garbled quotation can 
be made ; no important instance of the use of the word can 
be omitted, without its being evident to all. 



CONTENTS 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 

Question respecting the Mode of Baptism— Question respecting the Subjects of 
Baptism — Translation Question, 17 

f art /ir«t. 

TRANSLATION QUESTION. 

CHAPTER I. 

§ 1. Statement of the Question. § 2. Limitation to Baptizo — Reasons for this. 
§ 3. Limitation to Baptizo used as a religious Term — Reasons for this— History 
of the Hellenistic Greek. § 4. Radical Fallacy in the Baptist Argument, . 25 

CHAPTER II. 

§ 5. Jno. iii. 25, 26. Kathariso (to purify), used as a synonym for baptizo 
§ 6. Jno. i. 19-25. Confirmation of this sense of baptizo. § 7. Significance of 

John's silence respecting the nature of baptism, 48 

xl 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

MOSAIC LAWS OF PURIFICATION. 

§ 8. Rites of personal Purification. § 9. Rites of Purification for inanimate Things 
§ 10. Purification by bathing and washing. § 11. Effects of Purification. 
§ 12. Definition of the Term purify (katharizo). § 13. Definition of the Term 
baptise (fiaptiso), as used in the Word of God, 54 

CHAPTER IV. 

USE OF BAPTIZO IN THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

§ 14. 2 Kings, v. 14. § 15. Ecclesiasticus, xxxiv. 25. § 16. Judith, xii. 7. § 17. 
Isaiah, xxi. 4, 66 

CHAPTER V. 

USE OF BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT TO SIGNIFY MOSAIC PURIFI- 
CATIONS. 

§ 18. Mark, vii. 4, and Luke, xi. 38. § 19. Hebrews, ix. 10. § 20. Hebrews, vi. 2. SO 
CHAPTER VI. 

FIGURATIVE APPLICATIONS OF THE WORD BAPTIZO. 

§ 21. Christ's Baptism in his Death, Matt. xx. 20-23 ; Mark, x. 38, 39 ; and Luke, 
xii. 50. § 22. Baptism " unto Moses," 1 Cor. x. 2. § 23. Baptism in the Ark, 
lPet.iii. 21, ..... o 92 

CHAPTER VII. 

BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND WITH FIRE. 

§ 24. Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark, i. 8 ; Luke, iii. 16 ; John, i. 26, 33 ; Acts, i. 4-8, 22 ; ii. 1-4, 
16-18, 32, 33 ; x. 44-48 ; xi. 15, 16, 109 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

CHAPTER VIII. 

USE OF BAPTIZO IN A SPIRITUAL SENSE. 

§ 25. 1 Cor. xii. 13. § 26. Gal., iii. 27. § 27. Eph. iv. 5. § 28. Origin of the 
Doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, 121 

CHAPTER IX. 

ALL WATER-BAPTISMS IN THEIR NATURE PURIFICATIONS. 

§ 29. " The Baptism of Repentance." Matt. iii. 7, 8, 11 ; Mark, i. 4 ; Luke, iii. 
7, 8, 12 ; Luke, vii. 29, 30; Matt., xxi. 25 ; Mark, xi. 30 ; Acts, i. 22; Acts, xiii. 
24; Acts, x. 37; Acts, xix. 1-7; Acts, xviii. 24-26. § 30. Christ's Baptism by 
John. Matt., iii. 14-17; Mark, i. 9-11 ; Luke, iii.. 21, 22; John, i. 32, 33. § 31. 
Christian Baptism. Acts, ii. 41; Acts, viii. 12-16; Acts, xviii. 8, . . 128 

Summing up— Conclusion, 148 



^nrt ihrntrir, 

THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

CHAPTER I. 

32. Statement of the Question — § 33. Arguments relied on to prove that Immer- 
sion is essential to valid Baptism, 151 

CHAPTER II. 

SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 

34. Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col. ii. 12. § 85. Rom. vi. 3, 4. § 36. Col. ii. 12, § 37. 
1 Cor. xv. 29 155 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 






§ 38. John's Baptisms in Jordan. Matt. iii. 1-6; Mark, i. 4-10; Luke, iii. 3, 21. 
John, i. 28, X. 40. § 39. John's Baptisms at .2Enon. John, iii. 23. § 40. The Bap- 
tism of the Eunuch. Acts, viii. 36-39, ........ 179 



CHAPTER IV. 

§ 41. The Baptism of the three thousand in Jerusalem. Acts, ii. 38, 41. § 42. 
Paul's Baptism, Acts, ix. 17, 18 ; xxii. 12-16. § 43. The baptism of Cornelius, 
Acts, x. 44-48. § 44. The Baptism of the Jailer at Philippi, Acts, xvi. 82-34, 198 

Summing up— Conclusion, 207 

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 
The Practice of Immersion in Early Times, 214 



f urt ffitriL 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

CHAPTER I. 

43. Statement of the Question, and of the Arguments relied on by Baptists and 
Pedo-Baptists, 228 



CHAPTER II. 

46. Christ's commission to his Church, Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 16 ; 
Luke, xxiv. 47-49 226 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER III. 

§ 47. Is the import of Baptism inconsistent with its administration to Infants ? 
Acts, xxii. 16, and Deut. xxx. 6. Gal. iii. 27, and Rom. ii. 28, 29. 1 Cor. xii. 13, 
and Rom. iv. 11. Col. ii. 12, and Col. ii. 11, 285 



CHAPTER IV. 

§ 48. Essential Character of the visible Church. § 49. Nature of Church Member- 
ship, 245 



CHAPTER V. 

RELATION OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE NEW TO THAT UNDER THE OLD 
TESTAMENT DISPENSATION. 

§ 50. The Charter of the Church unchanged. § 51. Scriptural Representations. 
§ 52. The first Christian Church but the Old Testament Church purged of the 
Apostasy, 252 



CHAPTER VI. 

§ 53. Christ's Recognition of Infant Membership in the Church. Matt. xix. 13-15. 
Mark, x. 13-16. Luke, xviii. 15-17. § 54. Christ's re-commission of Peter. 
John, xxi. 15. § 55. Peter's preaching of Christian Baptism. Acts, ii. 38, 39, and 
iii. 24-26. § 56. Significant Silence of the Jews, 268 



CHAPTER VII. 

INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED BY GIVING TO CHILDREN THE PECU- 
LIAR TITLES BELONGING TO CHURCH MEMBERS. 

§ 57. Names given to Church Members in Scripture. § 58. Eph. i. 1, and vi. 1-8; 
Col. i. 1, 2, and iii. 20. § 59. Titus, i. 6. § 60. 1 Cor. vii. 12-14, . 287 



XT1 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Till. 

§ 61. Family Baptisms. Acts, xvi. 14, 15, and 32-84; 1 Cor. i. 18-17, . 305 

Summing up— Conclusion, 812 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 



The Christian world has long been divided in sentiment, 
on the question — What constitutes a valid Christian bap- 
tism ? All agree, that in Christian baptism, there must be 
an application of water to the person of the baptized ; and 
that this application must be made " in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The differ- 
ence is — 

First. Respecting the mode in which this water is to be 
applied ; some contending that in order to valid baptism, the 
subject must be immersed ; others, whilst admitting the 
validity of baptism by immersion, hold, that the application 
of water by sprinkling or pouring, constitutes a baptism 
equally valid ; — and that to require immersion, in order to 
admission to the church of God, is to infringe upon that 

xvii 



XV111 PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 

Christian " liberty wherewith Christ hath made his people 
free ;" and to " teach for doctrine, the commandments of 
men." This is the difference between the Baptist, and, what 
may be called, the Non-Baptist churches. 

Second. Respecting the proper subjects of baptism ; some, 
contending that none but such as make a credible profession 
of their faith in Christ, are proper subjects of baptism ; 
others, holding that, " not only those that do actually profess 
faith in, and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of 
one or both believing parents are to be baptized" (Presby- 
terian Confession of Faith, chap. 28). This is the differ- 
ence between the Baptist, and that large portion of the 
Pedo-Baptist churches, to which the Presbyterian church 
belongs. 

A controversy, on these two points, has long existed in the 
Christian Church. In support of their doctrine, that immer- 
sion is essential to a valid Christian baptism, Baptist writers 
affirm, that the word baptizo (the word in the original Greek 
corresponding to baptize in our English version) " has but 
one signification — it always signifies to dip, never expressing 
anything but mode ;" and hence, they argued, that to speak 
of baptism by sprinkling or pouring, is to be guilty of a con- 
tradiction in terms, just such as there would be in speaking 
of dipping, by sprinkling or pourings Thus, does the ques- 
tion respecting the Droner translation of baptizo enter as an 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. XIX 

element, and a most important element, too, into the decision 
of the question respecting the mode of baptism. 

On such a version as our commonly received English 
version, in which the Greek baptizo has been simply Angli- 
cized and transferred, persons differing in opinion respecting 
the meaning of the word, may unite, without any compro- 
mise of principle ; and had not the Foreign Missionary work, 
in its progress, called for versions of the Bible in heathen 
tongues, the probability is, that no breach in the church of 
God would even have arisen from the " translation question." 
A breach, however, has been created by this question ; and 
the Baptist church, in our country, has withdrawn itself from 
the " Bible operations," in which all other Protestants are 
united, and formed the " American and Foreign Bible 
Society," for the express purpose of translating the word 
baptizo, by words corresponding to our word immerse, in all 
new versions of the Bible required for heathen lands. 

As a natural consequence of the formation of this Bible 
society, and more especially of the spirit in which they have 
pursued their work, we have, within the last few years, the 
formation of the " Bible Union," for the purpose of giving us 
a new English version of the Word of God, in which, among 
other changes, the words immerse and immersion, shall be 
substituted for baptize and baptism. The American and 
Foreign Bible Society, at its anniversary, held April 28th, 



XX PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 

1840 : " Resolved, That by the fact, that the nations of the 
earth must now look to the Baptist denomination alone, for 
faithful translations of the Word of God, a responsibility is 
imposed upon them, demanding for its full discharge, an 
unwonted degree of union, of devotion, and of strenuous per- 
severing effort throughout the entire body." And in their 
Annual Report, the society stigmatizes all the translations 
made for the heathen, excepting only such as may be pub- 
lished under Baptist auspices, as " versions, in which the real 
meaning of words is purposely kept out of sight, so that Bap- 
tists cannot circulate faithful versions, unless they print them 
at their own expense." And they add : " It is known that 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the American 
Bible Society, have virtually combined to obscure at least a 
part of the divine revelation, and continue to circulate ver- 
sions of the Bible, unfaithful, at least, so far as the subject 
of baptism is concerned." 

It is true, that a majority of those united in the " Ameri- 
can and Foreign Bible Society," condemn the new version 
movement, and declare that they are unwilling to see our 
venerable English version altered in a letter. And yet, we 
believe we do them no injustice, when we speak of the for- 
mation of the " Bible Union " as the natural consequence of 
the formation of their society, and of the spirit in which they 
have pursued their work; — and when we hold, not those 



PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. XXI 

engaged in the " new version " alone, but the whole Baptist 
church, directly, a party to this translation controversy. 

Here, then, we have a third point of difference, in which 
the Baptist church stands as the one party, and all other 
Christian churches in our land, as the other. 



PART I. 



THE TRANSLATION QUESTION 



THE 



DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS 



CHAPTEB I. 

§ 1. Statement of the Question. § 2. Limitation to Baptizo — Reasons for this. 
§ 3. Limitation to Baptizo used as a religious Term — Reasons for this— History 
of the Hellenistic Greek. § 4. Radical Fallacy in the Baptist Argument. 

§ 1. Statement of the Question. 

The word baptizo is a word used in the Scriptures 
to designate the performance of a Christian rite, in 
which water is applied to the body, in the name of 
the Trinity. Either this word is specific as to mode, 
like our English words, dip, sprinkle, ponr; or it is 
generic, denoting simply the production of an effect, 
like our English words, consecrate, purify, cleanse. 

The Baptist affirms that baptizo is a specific term, 
that it " has but one signification — it always signifies 
to dip, never expressing anything but mode." l 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 55. 

2 



26 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

We affirm that baptizo, when used as a religious 
term (and it is always so used in the New Testa- 
ment), is a generic term, having no reference to 
mode; and hence, to translate it by dip, immerse, 
sprinkle or pour, will be to mis- translate the word of 
God. 

In this statement of the question, we have pur- 
posely limited it to the word baptizo, and to that 
word used as a religious term. 

§ 2. Question limited to baptizo. 

The question is limited to baptizo. Nothing is 
affirmed respecting bapto, a word frequently used by 
the sacred writers. This limitation is made for two 
reasons. 

First. The word baptizo, is the word invariably 
used, in the inspired Scriptures, when speaking of 
the rite of Christian baptism : the word bapto, 
although of frequent occurrence in the New Testa- 
ment, is never applied to that ordinance. Even 
admitting, then, that bapto is the primitive word, 
and baptizo a derivative from it, the fact that the 
sacred writers, when speaking of Christian baptism, 
always use the latter, and never in one instance the 
former, is strong presumptive evidence that they 
understood the words as differing in meaning. 

Second. Although most of the earlier Baptist 



QUESTION LIMITED TO BAPTIZO. 27 

writers contended as strenuously for the uniform 
modal meaning of bapto, as for that of baptizo, their 
later writers give up this point: and claim, and we 
think they do so fairly, that the word baptizo alone, 
is in controversy. 

Commenting on Dr. Gale's translation of bapto, as 
used by Homer, in his " Battle of the Frogs and the 
Mice," Dr. Carson translates the sentence in which 
the word occurs — "He fell, and breathed no more, 
and the lake was tinged with blood;" and adds: "To 
suppose that there is here any extravagant allu- 
sion to the literal immersion or dipping of a lake, 
is a monstrous perversion of taste. The lake is said 
to be dyed, not to be dipped, nor poured, nor 
sprinkled. There is in the word no reference to 
mode. Had Baptists entrenched themselves here, 
they would have saved themselves much useless toil, 
and much false criticism, without straining to the 
impeachment of their candor or their taste. What 
a monstrous paradox in rhetoric is the figure of the 
dipping of a lake in the blood of a mouse! Yet 
Dr. Gale supposes the lake dipped by hyperbole. ' The 
literal sense,' says he, 'is the lake was dipped in 
blood.' Never was there such a figure. The lake 
is not said to be dipped in blood, but to be dyed in 
blood." ■ 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 48. 



28 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

In the portion of the "New Version" which has 
been published by the "Bible Union," Rev. xix. 13, 
in which the word bapto occurs, is translated — "And 
he was clothed with a garment dyed with blood; and 
his name is called The Word of God." The authorized 
version reads — "And he was clothed with a gar- 
ment dipped in blood, and his name is called The 
Word of God." The substitution of dyed for dipped 
in this passage, we suppose, may fairly be considered 
as a formal abandonment of the ground once main- 
tained by Baptists, in so far as the word bapto is 
concerned. And as our purpose is, to treat the 
several questions respecting baptism, with reference 
to the positions which the parties now occupy, we 
shall limit our examination to baptizo alone. 

§ 3. Question limited to baptizo, used as a religious 

term. 

Words often change their meaning, with varia- 
tions in the faith, and sentiments, and manners of the 
people by whom they are used. As an instance of 
this, in our own language, we may cite the words 
"religion" and "religious" — words which during the 
period of papal dominion in Great Britain, had a 
meaning very different from that which they now 
have. "In former times," writes Trench, "a reli- 



BAPTIZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TEEM. 29 

gious person, did not mean any one who felt and 
allowed tlie bonds which bound him to God and to 
his fellow men, but one who had taken peculiar 
vows upon him ; a member of one of the monkish 
orders. A religious house, did not mean, nor does it 
now mean in the Church of Rome, a Christian house- 
hold, ordered in the fear of God, but a house in 
which these persons were gathered together accord- 
ing to the rule of some man, Benedict or Dominic, or 
some other. A religion, meant not a service of God, 
but an order of monkery; and taking the monastic 
vows, was termed going into a religion. That, then, 
was religion, and nothing else was considered deserv- 
ing the name ! And religious, was a title which 
might not be given to parents and children, husbands 
and wives, men and women fulfilling faithfully and 
holily, in the world, the several duties of their sta- 
tions, but only to those who had devised self-chosen 
services for themselves." 3 

Words used to designate officers in the church, or 
religious rights and even doctrines, often acquire a 
meaning, when thus used, entirely different from 
their original meaning. This use of these terms, we 
call their religious, as contradistinguished from their 
secular use. Thus — 'the original meaning of the 
word hislioj) is overseer. In our language, it is used 

3 Trench on the Study of Words, p. 19. 



30 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

exclusively as a religious term ; and no one would 
think of speaking of the bishop of a cotton factory or 
of a southern plantation. The original meaning of 
the word elder, and its meaning now, when used as a 
secular term, is an old man. And yet I have known 
elders in the Baptist Church, not twenty-one years of 
age. The original meaning of the word supper, and 
its meaning now, when used as a secular term, is, 
" the evening meal " (Webster). When, using it as 
a religious term, we speak of the sacrament of the 
supper' — or, simply, the supper, we mean a Christian 
rite, which is not a meal, and which in this country, 
is very frequently administered in the forenoon. 

Such changes in the meaning of words as these, are 
facts familiar to the student, in the history of every 
language. They take place, in consequence of 
changes in the faith, or manners and customs of a 
people, even where that people continue to speak the 
same language. But where a language comes to be 
spoken by a people of different faith from those to 
whom it originally belonged, as, for example, a 
heathen language comes to be spoken by a Christian 
people, these changes in meaning are greatest and 
most frequent. 

Trench, in his work on " the Study of Words," gives 
some striking illustrations of these remarks. " In the 
Greek language" — writes he — " there is a word for 



BAPTIZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TEEM. 31 

humility ; but this humility meant for the Greek, 
meanness of spirit. He who brought in the Christian 
grace of humility, did in so doing, rescue also the 
word which expresses it, for nobler uses, and to a far 
higher dignity than hitherto it had attained. There 
were Angels (messengers), before heaven had been 
opened, but these only earthly messengers ; martyrs 
(witnesses) also, but not witnesses unto blood, nor jet 
for God's highest truth ; apostles (those sent) but sent 
of men; advocates, (pleaders) but not with "the 
Father." Paradise, was a word common, in slightly 
different forms, to almost all the nations of the East ; 
but they meant by it only some royal park or garden 
of delights ; till for the Jews, it was exalted to signify 
the wondrous abode of our first parents ; and higher 
honors awaited it still, when on the lips of the Lord, 
it signified the blissful waiting-place of faithful de- 
parted souls (Luke xxiii. 43) : Yea, the heavenly 
blessedness itself (Rev. ii. 7). ISTor was the word 
regeneration unknown to the Greeks. They could 
speak of the earth's regeneration in the spring-time ; 
and of memory as the regeneration of knowledge. 
The Jewish historian could describe the return of his 
countrymen from the Babylonian captivity, and their 
re-establishment, under Cyrus, in their own land, as 
the regeneration of the Jewish state ; but still, the 



32 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

word, on the lips of either Jew or Greek, was very 
far removed from that honor reserved for it in the 
Christian dispensation — namely, that it should be the 
bearer of one of the chiefest and most blessed mys- 
teries of the faith. And many other words, in like 
manner, there are, " fetched from the very dregs of 
paganism," as one has said, which words the Holy 
Ghost has not refused to employ for the setting forth 
of the great truths of our redemption. Reversing 
in this, the impious deed of Belshazzar, who profaned 
the sacred vessels of God's house to sinful and idola- 
trous uses (Dan. v. 2.), that blessed spirit has often 
consecrated the very idol vessels of Babylon to the 
" service of the sanctuary." * 

The remark is made by one of the ablest of modern 
critical scholars, " classical use, both in Greek and 
Latin, is not only in this study " — i.e. the critical 
study of the New Testament — "sometimes unavail- 
able, but may even mislead. The sacred use and the 
classical are often very different." 2 

That we may have a clearer understanding of this 
subject, and especially that we may see whither we 
must look for reliable authority in the interpretation 
of the words of the JSTew Testament, let us glance at 

1 Trench on the Study of Words, pp. 46, 4/7. 

2 Campbell on the Gospels, vol. i. p. 58. 



BAPTIZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TERM. 33 

the history of the Hellenistic Greek, or Greek of the 
synagogue, as it has been called, the peculiar Greek 
in which the New Testament is written. 

"The persecutions with which the Jews were 
harassed under Antiochus Epiphanes, concurring with 
several other causes, occasioned the dispersion of a 
great part of their nation throughout the provinces of 
Asia Minor ; Assyria, Phoenicia, Persia, Arabia, Lybia 
and Egypt ; which dispersion was, in process of time, 
extended to Achaia, Macedonia and Italy." (For the 
state of things in our Lord's day, see Acts ii. 5-11.) 
" The unavoidable consequence of this was, in a few 
ages, to all those who settled in distant lands, the 
total loss of that dialect which their fathers had 
brought out of Babylon into Palestine. But this is 
to be understood, with the exception of the learned, 
who studied the Oriental languages by books." 

" At length, a complete version of the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament was made into Greek ; a language 
which was then, and continued for many ages after- 
wards, in far more general use than any other. This 
is what is called the Septuagint, or version of the 
seventy (probably because approved by the Sanhed- 
rim) which was begun, by order of Ptolemy Phila- 
delphia, King of Egypt, for the Alexandrian Library," 
(about 269 B. C); At first, no more than the Penta- 
teuch was translated, which was soon followed by a 



34: THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

version of the other books. This is doubtless the 
first translation that was attempted of the Sacred 
Writings." 

" It will readily be imagined, that all the Jews who 
inhabited Grecian cities, where the Oriental tongues 
were unknown, would be solicitous to obtain copies 
of this translation. To excite in them this solicitude, 
patriotism would concur with piety, and indeed al- 
most every motive that could operate upon men." 

u Let us attend to the consequences which would 
naturally follow- Wherever Greek was the mother 
tongue, this version would come to be used, not only 
in private in Jewish houses, but also in public in 
their schools and synagogues, in the explanation of 
the weekly lesson from the Law and the Prophets. 
The style of it would consequently soon become the 
standard of language to them, on religious subjects. 
Hence would arise a certain uniformity in phraseo- 
logy and idiom among the Grecian Jews, wherever 
dispersed, with regard to their religion and sacred 
rites; whatever were the particular dialects which 
prevailed in the places of their residence, and were 
used by them in conversing on ordinary matters." 

" Hence, if we would enter thoroughly into the 
idiom of the New Testament, we must familiarize 
ourselves with that of the Septuagint; and if we 
would enter thoroughly into the idiom of the Septua- 



BAPTTZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TERM. 35 

gin t, we must accustom ourselves to the study, not 
only of the original of the Old Testament, but of the 
dialects spoken in Palestine, between the return of 
the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the des- 
truction of Jerusalem by the Romans ; for this last, 
as well as the Hebrew, has affected the language 
both of the old Greek translation and of the New Tes- 
tament. 

" Such is the origin and the character of the idiom 
which prevails in the writings of the Apostles and 
Evangelists; and the remarkable conformity of the 
new revelation, which we have by them, though 
written in a different language, to the idiom of the 
old. It has been distinguished by the name, Hellen- 
istic Greek, not with a critical accuracy, if regard be 
had to the derivation of the word, but with sufficient 
exactness, if attention be given to the application 
which the Hebrews made of the term Hellenist ; 
whereby they distinguished their Jewish brethren 
who lived in Grecian cities, and spoke Greek. It 
has been, by some of late, after father Simon, more 
properly termed the Greek of the synagogue. 

" It is acknowledged, that it cannot strictly be de- 
nominated a separate language, or even dialect, 
when the term dialect is conceived to imply peculi- 
arities in declension and conjugation. But with the 
greatest justice, it is denominated a peculiar idiom, 



36 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

being not only Hebrew and Chaldaic phrases, put in 
Greek words, but even single Greek words used in 
senses, in which they never occur in the writings of 
profane authors, and which can be learned only from 
the extent of signification given to some Hebrew or 
Chaldaic word, corresponding to the Greek, in its 
primitive and most ordinary sense." 1 

On these facts in the History of the Hellenistic 
Greek, the idiom in which the ISTew Testament is 
written, Campbell bases his remark, already quoted, 
" classic use, is not only" — in the critical study of the 
2Tew Testament — " sometimes unavailable, but may 
even mislead. The sacred use and the classical are 
often very different." And the further remark, 
that " those words in particular, which have been 
current in the explanations given in the Hellenistic 
synagogues and schools, have with their naturaliza- 
tion among the Israelites, acquired in the Jewish use 
an infusion of the national spirit. Though the words 
therefore are Greek, Jewish erudition is of more ser- 
vice than Grecian for bringing us to the true accepta- 
tion of them in the sacred writings." — " In determin- 
ing the different acceptation of some words, as used 
by Jews and Pagans, the Scriptures will ever be 
found their own best interpreter." 

The two sacraments in the Christian Church, are 

1 Campbell on the Gospels, vol. i. pp. 31, 32, 58, 62. 



BAPTIZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TERM. 37 

termed in scripture, the one baptism, the other " The 
LoroVs Supper" (deipnon). (See 1. Cor. xi. 20, 21.) 
As furnishing at once an illustration and a proof, of 
Campbell's remarks, quoted above, we cite this word, 
deipnon. According to invariable classic usage, this 
word means either " the chief meal of the day, taken 
among the Greeks, toward or at evening, after the 
labors of the day were over ; or, a banquet, a feast." 
And in this sense it is used both in the Septuagint 
and the New Testament, when used as a secular term. 
In the Septuagint, "Belshazzar, the king, made a 
great feast {deipnon) to a thousand of his lords, and 
drank wine before the thousand." (Dan. v. 1.) In 
the New Testament, " And he said unto him, a cer. 
tain man made a great suppe?' (deipnon), and bade 
many." (Luke xiv. 16.) And yet, nothing can be 
more evident than that, used as a religious term, to de- 
signate a sacrament in the Christian Church, the word 
deipnon has a signification very different from that 
in which it is used by classic Greek writers, and even 
by the New Testament writers, when they use it as 
a secular term. Hence Paul writes, " When ye come 
together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the 
Lord's supper {deipnon). For in eating every one 
taketh before other his own supper ; and one is hungry, 
and another is drunken. What ! have ye not houses to 
eat and to drink in ? or despise ye the church of God, 



38 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

and shame them that have not." (1 Cor. xi. 20, 22.) 
The Lord's supper, is neither a banquet nor a meal. 
And for making it a supper (devpnori) in the classic 
sense of that term, Paul declares that God's judg- 
ments were upon the church at Corinth. ic For this 
cause many are weak and sickly among you, and 
many sleep." (1 Cor. xi. 30.) 

This is one of those cases in which " classic use 
will mislead " — " in which Jewish erudition is of more 
service than Grecian in bringing us to the true accep- 
tation of a term in the sacred writings " — " in which 
a single word is used in a sense in which it never oc- 
curs in profane authors, and which can be learned 
only from the extent of signification given to some 
Hebrew or Chaldaic word, corresponding to the 
Greek in its primitive and most ordinary sense " — " in 
which the Scriptures are their own best interpre- 
ters." 

We have dwelt upon these principles of interpreta- 
tion, at much greater length than would otherwise 
have seemed necessary, because, whilst the thorough 
scholar must be familiar with them, the same is not 
true of the general reader, and they have a most im- 
portant bearing upon the decision of the question 
under examination. 



FALLACY OF THE BAPTIST ARGUMENT. 39 



§ 4. Radical Fallacy in the Baptist Argument. 

It is in the disregard of the distinction between 
the sacred and the secular sense of the word, that 
the radical fallacy of Dr. Carson's argument lies — 
and the same is true of every other Baptist argu- 
ment we have read — in so far as that argument is 
intended to determine the meaning of the word 
baptiso. 

1. Dr. Carson sneers at the distinction between the 
sacred and secular sense of the word. Thus he writes : 
— " Pedobaptists often take refuge in a supposed 
sacred or scriptural use, that they may be screened 
from the fire of the lexicons." l 

In addition to the words already cited, as illustrat- 
ing and establishing this distinction, we may cite such 
words as — 

Presbyter {presbuteros). In its classical and secu- 
lar use, it signifies " an old man." " Your young men 
shall see visions, and your old men {presbuterio) shall 
dream dreams." (Acts ii. 17.) In its sacred sense 
it signifies an officer in the church, who might be a 
young man. Timothy was a presbyter (See 1 Tim. 
iv. 14); and yet Paul writes to him, "Let no man 
despise thy youth." (1 Tim. iv. 12.) 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 58. 



40 THE DOCTTINK OF BAPTISMS. 

Pastor (poimoen). In its classical and secular use, 
it signifies a keeper of sheep, a herdsman. " And 
Abel was a keeper of sheep (poimcen)," (Gen. iv. 2,). 
In its sacred sense it signifies " the teacher and spirit- 
ual guide of a particular church." " And he gave 
some apostles, and some prophets, and some evange- 
lists, and some pastors, (poimenas) and teachers." 
(Eph. iv. 11,). 

Church (ckMeesia). In its classical and secular use, 
it signifies an assembly, even though it be a tumultu- 
ous one. " But if ye inquire any thing concerning 
other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful 
assembly " (eJcMcesia), (Acts xix. 39). In its sacred 
sense its meaning is the same with our English word 
church. " Unto the church {ehhlcesia) of God, which 
is at Corinth," (1. Cor. i. 2). Indeed, we do not know 
of a single term belonging to the class of words to 
which baptismos belongs, words used to designate 
rites or offices, in the Christian church, which has not 
a sacred sense, different from its secular and classic 
sense : and nothing will involve the interpretation of 
Scripture in more inextricable confusion, than just the 
disregard of this distinction. 

(2.) Having cited a number of instances, from clas- 
sic Greek writers, in which he thinks it evident from 
the context, that baptizo is used in the sense of dip, 
and added several also from the writings of Joseph us, 



FALLACY OF THE BAPTIST ARGUMENT. 41 

in all of which, with one exception, 1 the word is 
evidently used as a secular term : Dr. Carson, when 
he comes to the examination of its use in Scripture, 
in those passages by which its meaning as a sacred 
term can alone be determined, such as Mark vii. 4, 
cuts the matter short, by saying, " Having found the 
meaning of the word, by the testimony of the whole 
range of Greek literature — having found that it signi- 
fies immerse, and nothing else, have I not an unques- 
tionable right to allege this proved meaning ?" — " Dr. 
"Wardlaw says, with respect to the immersion of beds, 
1 he who can receive it, let him receive it.' I say, he 
who dares to reject it, rejects the testimony of God." 2 
We may, for argument's sake, grant to Dr. Carson 
all that he thinks he has proved respecting the classi- 
cal use of baptizo, and its use as a secular term by Jo- 
sephus, and yet say, " You have proved nothing to 
the point." The unquestionable fact, that all other 
terms belonging to the same class with baptizo, have 
a sacred as well as a secular sense, renders it pro- 
bable, a priori, that the same is true of baptizo / and 
if so, it is this sense, when used as a sacred term, 
which is alone in controversy. If upon such princi- 
ples as those of Dr. Carson, it can be proved that 
there is no valid baptism without immersion ; upon 

1 For an examination of this one instance, see note to § 15. 

2 Carson on Baptism, pp. 398, 12. 



42 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

the same principles, and with a much greater 
array of evidence, it can be proved that the Lord's 
supper (deipnon) is not validly administered in any 
church on earth, at this present day. For, certainly, 
the eating a morsel of bread, and swallowing a single 
sup of wine, is not more unlike a banquet or the 
principal meal of the day, than pouring or sprinkling 
a little water on the person to be baptized, is unlike 
the entire immersion of that person. And if depar- 
ture from the classical and secular sense of the name 
of one sacrament, vitiates its administration, the same 
must be true of the other also. 

The " translation question," must, if possible, be 
settled by an appeal to the Scriptures alone ; or if 
compelled to go beyond the Scriptures, we must ever 
bear in mind, the distinction between the secular and 
sacred use of such terms as the one in controversy ; 
and our appeal should be, not to the classic Greek 
writers, who did not write in the dialect of Judea, but 
to Joseph us and the earlier Greek Fathers. We be- 
lieve that the question can be settled satisfactorily, 
from the Scriptures alone : and hence, to the Scrip- 
tures alone shall we appeal. And bearing in mind, the 
sacied use of such terms as haptiso, we insist upon 
the second limitation of the question, viz. : that it be 
limited to baptizo, used as a religious or sacred 
term. 






THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 43 



CHAPTER II. 

§ 5. Jno. iii. 25, 26. Katharizo (to purify), used as a synonym for baptizo. 
§ 6. Jno. i. 19-25. Confirmation of this sense of baptizo. § 7. Significance of 
John's silence respecting the nature of baptism. 

§ 5. John III. 22-30, and IV. 1-3. 

III. 22. "After these tilings came Jesus and his dis- 
ciples into the land of Judea; and there he 
tarried with them and baptized. 

23. And John also was baptizing in ./En on, near 

to Salim, because there was much water there ; 
and they came and were baptized. 

24. For John was not jet cast into prison. 

25. Then there arose a question between some of 

John's disciples and the Jews, about purify- 
ing (katharismcu). 

26. And they come unto John and said unto him: 

Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, 
to whom thou bearest witness, behold the same 
baptizeth (baptizei), and all men come to him. 

27. John answered, and said: A man can receive 

nothing except it be given him from Heaven. 



44 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

28. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I 

am not the Christ, but that I am sent before 
him. 

29. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom ; but 

the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth 
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of 
the bridegroom's voice ; this my joy therefore 
is fulfilled. 

30. He must increase, but I must decrease. 

IV. 1. When, therefore, the Lord knew that the 
Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and 
baptized more disciples than John, 

2. (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his dis- 

ciples,) 

3. He left Judea and departed again into Galilee." 






What was this "question about purifying," which 
is here said to have arisen between some of John's 
disciples and the Jews? According to the plain 
record of the text, the question is the one which they 
immediately propose to John: "And they came unto 
John, and said unto him, Rabbi, He that was with 
thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, 
behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to 
him." Is his baptism a higher and holier baptism 
than thine? And is it about to take the place of thy 
baptism? A question most natural in the circum- 



THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 45 

stances of the case; John and Jesus being engaged 
in baptizing at places not very remote from each 
other, and the Jews, who, a little while before, had 
nocked to John's baptism, now turning to that of 
Jesus in such numbers, that "he made and baptized 
more disciples than John." With the very imper- 
fect, and, in many respects, erroneous views of the 
nature of the Messiah's kingdom then universally 
entertained in Judea, we can hardly conceive how 
this question could have failed to arise. 

It is just this question to which John replies. 
" John answered and said : A man can receive 
nothing except it be given him from Heaven. Ye 
yourselves bear me witness, that I said I am not the 
Christ, but that I am sent before him. He must 
increase, but I must decrease." As if he had said : 
This is all according to divine appointment; I never 
claimed any other honor, as compared with him, but 
such as "a friend of the bridegroom" has, as com- 
pared with the "bridegroom" himself; I the fore- 
runner of Messiah, he the Messiah himself. " He 
must increase, but I must decrease." 

Thus understood, the interpretation of this whole 
passage is perfectly simple ; and each part consistent 
with every other. And now, we ask the reader to 
notice that this interpretation proceeds upon the sup- 
position, that what is called "a question about puki- 



46 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

fying," in v. 25, is, in v. 26, stated as a question 
about baptism. That is, that John Baptist, and his 
disciples and the Jews, and John the writer of the 
Gospel record, regarded baptism as, in substance, a 
"purification"." 

Dr. Carson, to get rid of this conclusion, takes the 
ground : 1st. That when " they came to John," they 
"did not state the case concerning purifying; they 
stated another case quite different, one different from 
that at issue between the disciples of John and the 
Jews." 1 Let the reader turn to the record. "There 
arose a question between some of John's disciples 
and the Jews, about purifying. And they came 
unto John, and said unto him — John answered and 
said;" and especially bearing in mind that the 
modern division of the New Testament into chapters 
and verses, is of no authority; say, whether an 
ingenuous interpetation of that record will admit of 
Dr. Carson's explanation. 2d. That our exposition pro- 
ceeds upon the assumption "that if two words refer 
to the same ordinance, they must be identical in 
meaning," whilst " nothing is more unfounded. 
There are situations in which two words may be 
interchanged at the option of the writer, while they 
are not perfectly synonymous." a To this we reply, 
synonymous terms are seldom identical in meaning. 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 432. a Ibid. pp. 482, 433. 



SYNONYMS NOT IDENTICAL. 47 

Our treatises on synonyms are treatises to point out 
the differences in meaning between such terms. In 
the case before us, purification is the more compre- 
hensive term, whilst baptism is more limited in 
meaning; and when we say that these terms are 
used as synonyms, we mean that the former includes 
the latter ; that baptism is a species of purification. 
We by no means assert, "that if two words refer to 
the same ordinance, they must be identical in 



§ 6. John I. 19-25. 

19. " And this is the record of John, when the Jews 

sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to 
ask him, Who art thou ? 

20. And he confessed and denied not ; but confessed, 

I am not the Christ. 

21. And they asked him ; What then ? Art thou 

Eli as? And he saith, I am not. Art thou 
that prophet? And he answered, no. 

22. Then said they unto him : Who art thou ? that 
we may give an answer to them that sent us. 

23. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the 
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make 
straight the way of the Lord, as saith the 
Prophet Esaias. 



48 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

24. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. 

25. And they asked him, and said unto him, "Why 

baptizest (baptizeis) thou then, if thou be not 
that Christ, nor Elias, neither that Prophet?" 

How comes it that the Pharisees ask of John this 
question, " Why baptizest thou then ?" We answer : 
Because the Jews, as -instructed out of the Prophets, 
expected Messiah, when he came, to come as a great 
Purifier among them, and they understood baptism, 
as administered by John, to be substantially a purifi- 
cation. Therefore it was, that whilst they could un- 
derstand how a baptism might properly be adminis- 
tered by Messiah himself, or Elias, who was to come 
as his forerunner; they could not understand the 
propriety of John's baptizing, when he expressly dis- 
claimed being either the one or the other. 

The prophecies, upon which the Jews based this 
expectation, were such as : (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 28) :— 
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean (purified) ; from all your fllthiness 
(uncleanness) and from all your idols will I cleanse 
(purify) you. A new heart also, will I give you ; 
and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will 
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will 
give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit 
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, 



.BAPTIZO USED AS A RELIGIOUS TEEM. 49 

and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And 
ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, 
and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." 
And (Mai. iii. 2, 3,) " But who may abide the day 
of his coming? And who shall stand when he ap- 
peareth ? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like ful- 
ler's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier 
(katha/rizon) of silver : and he shall purify (Jcathari- 
sei), the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and 
silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering 
in righteousness." 

To these prophecies respecting Messiah, John him- 
self had particularly called their attention at the 
commencement of his public ministry ; and this too, 
in connection with his administration of baptism : — 
" I, indeed, baptize you with water, unto repentance ; 
but he that cometh after me, is mightier than I, 
w T hose shoes 1 am not worthy to bear : He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : 
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly 
purge (diakathariei) his floor, and gather his wheat 
into the garner ; but he will burn up the chaff with 
unquenchable fire." (Matt. iii. 11, 12.) 

Understanding baptism to be essentially a purifica- 
tion, how natural was it, for the Pharisees, when they 
saw John baptizing, to ask the question : Art thou 
our promised Messiah, the great Purifier, foretold 

3 



50 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

by our Prophets ; He, who at his coming, will sepa- 
rate us from among our enemies, that " dwelling in the 
land given to our fathers," we may serve him ? And 
when he answered; No. How natural was it for 
them to ask the further question : Art thou Elias, the 
"messenger who should prepare the way before" 
Messiah ? And when, again, he answered, JSTo : how 
perfectly natural their surprise ; a surprise which finds 
expression in their last question ; " Why baptizest thou 
then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither 
that Prophet?" On this supposition, not only is the 
conduct of the Pharisees natural ; but every part of the 
record is perfectly plain. But adopt the Baptist hypo- 
thesis, that baptism was an entirely new rite, of the na- 
ture of which the Jews knew nothing, except what 
they could gather from its being an immersion (for 
John gave no exposition of the nature of baptism, in 
in so far as appears from the Gospel narrative), and 
how inexplicable the question of the Pharisees 
appears. 

§ 7. John's Silence respecting the Nature of Baptism 
significant. 

In so far as appears from the sacred record, nei- 
ther John nor Christ ever gave any special exposi- 
tion of the nature of baptism, unless we regard our 



51 



Lord's parting words to his disciples (Mark xvi. 16), 
after his resurrection, as such. Certain it is, that we 
have not the slightest hint of any explanation of its 
nature having been given by them, at the time these 
Pharisees came to John, and questioned him in the 
manner related in John i. 19-25. And yet, both 
John and the Pharisees talk about baptism as if it 
were a rite, the nature of which was well understood 
by all parties. And in just the same unquestioning 
manner had "Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan," already been" baptized of 
John, in Jordan, confessing their sins." (Matt. iii. 5, 6.) 
How strange does all this seem, on the supposition 
that baptism was a new rite, then, for the first time, 
administered in Judea. 

Some have attempted to explain this, by saying 
that the Jews had been familiarized with baptism as 
a religious rite, by their established rite of proselyte 
baptism; and therefore, no question is asked, nor 
answer given, respecting its nature in John's day. 
The existence of the rite of proselyte baptism among 
the Jews, in John's day, rests upon no higher autho- 
rity than the Talmud, a part of which was not 
written until the seventh century, and the remainder 
still later : and the fact that the law of Moses prescribes 
a different rite for the admission of a proselyte into the 
Jewish Church, renders its practice then exceedingly 



52 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

improbable. 1 "And when a stranger shall sojourn 
with thee, and will keep the Passover of the Lord, 
let all his males be circumcised, and then let him 
come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that 
is born in the land ; for no nncircnmcised person 
shall eat thereof." (Exodus xii. 48.) 

Others would get rid of the difficulty by supposing 
that John did give an exposition of the nature of 
baptism, although no record is made of it in the 
Gospels. Respecting this supposition, we remark: 
1. It seems passing strange, that such should have 
been the course pursued by the Evangelists, in the 
case of a sacred rite entirely new ; and such, most 
Baptist writers contend that this rite is; when in the 
case of the only other sacrament instituted in the 
Church, viz. the Lord's Supper, confessedly only the 
Gospel counterpart of the Paschal Supper, observed 
from the days of Moses, they are so particular in 
recording our Lord's exposition of its nature. "And 
he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and 
gave it unto them, saying, this is my body which is 
given for you ; this do in remembrance of me. Like- 
wise, also, the cup, after supper, saying, this cup is the 
New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you." 

1 For a fuller examination of this question respecting proselyte 
baptism, the reader is referred to Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, Book 
I. chap. 3. 



John's silence respecting baptism. 53 

(Luke xxii. 19, 20.) See also Matt xxvi. 26-30, and 
Mark xiv. 22-25. 2. It is at variance with the 
soundest principles of biblical criticism, to explain a 
difficulty, by supposing something of which the 
Scriptures give us no hint, when it can be as well, or 
better, explained from the Scriptures themselves. 
Even in the best view which we can take of such a 
course, it is preferring an apocryphal explanation to 
a scriptural one. 

In this fact, then, that in the Gospel narrative, 
baptism breaks upon us as an unquestioned, and 
evidently, a well-understood rite, we have very strong 
confirmation of the view we have taken: That bap- 
tism is substantially the same with the purifications 
established under the Old Testament dispensation. 

A further proof of the correctness of this view we 
shall have, when we come to examine particularly 
the nature of John's baptism; a Jewish, and not a 
Christian baptism ; and performed, whilst as yet, the 
Old Testament dipensation had not passed away. 



54 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



CHAPTER III. 

MOSAIC LAWS OF PURIFICATION. 

§8. Rites of personal Purification. §9. Rites of Purification for inanimate Things. 
§ 10. Purification by bathing and washing. § 11. Effects of Purification. 
§ 12. Definition of the Term purify (katharizo). § 13. Definition of the Term 
baptize (baptizo), as used in the Word of God. 

In our examination of Jno. iii. 25, 26, and i. 19-25, 
having seen good reason to believe that John and his 
disciples, and the Jews, considered John's baptism 
as essentially a rite of purification, we propose, in 
the present chapter, to give a summary of the Old 
Testament law of purification ; that we may be pre- 
pared, the more intelligently, to examine into the 
use of the word baptizo by the sacred writers. 

The Mosaic law of purification is embraced in the 
following passages, viz. Ex. xxx. 17-21. The rites 
of purification for a priest about to engage in the 
services of the sanctuary. Lev. xi. 31-46. The rites 
of purification for any person or thing defiled by the 
touch of an unclean animal or creeping thing. Lev. 
xii. The rites of purification for a woman after 



MOSAIC LAWS OF PURIFICATION. 55 

childbirth. (Lev. xiv.) The rites of purification for 
the leper. (Lev. xv.) The rites of purification for 
those having issues, &c. (Lev. xvii. 15, 16.) The 
rites of purification for one who had eaten that 
which died of itself. (Numb, xix.) The rites of puri- 
fication for one who had touched a dead body, or a 
bone, or a grave. (Numb. xxxi. 19-24.) The rites 
of purification for soldiers after battle, and for spoils 
taken in battle. In Heb. ix. 19-22, Paul gives a 
brief summary of the rites of purification for the 
"tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry," 
written out more at large in various places in the 
books of Exodus and Leviticus. 

After a careful examination, we present the fol- 
lowing, as a correct summary of the Mosaic law of 
purification. 

§ 8. Bites of personal Purification. 

1. For a slight defilement; such as that arising 
from the touch of an unclean animal; the washing 
of the clothes alone. (Lev. xi. 23.) For defilement 
resulting from eating an animal which had died of 
itself; or from having a running issue; or from 
sprinkling with the "water of separation" an unclean 
person or tent; the washing of the clothes, and the 
bathing of the body in water. (Lev. xv. 8, xvii. 15, 



56 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

xix. 19.) For such defilement as a priest would 
acquire in the routine of every-day life; the washing 
of the hands and the feet. (Exod. xxx. 19.) 

2. For more serious defilement ; such as that con- 
tracted in childbirth; the offering of a prescribed 
sacrifice. (Lev. xii. 6, 7.) For defilement arising 
from touching a dead body, or bone, or grave ; 
sprinkling with the "water of separation," or "the 
ashes of an heifer." (Numb. xix. 17, 18.) For 
defilement arising from leprosy ; sprinkling with 
blood and water seven times, the touching of cer- 
tain parts of the body with blood and oil, the offer- 
ing of certain prescribed sacrifices, the shaving of 
the head and the face, and the washing of the person 
and clothes in water. (Lev xiv. 2-32.) 



§ 9. Bites of Purification for inanimate Things. 

For clothing, skins, sacks and culinary vessels of 
wood, purification was effected by washing, rinsing 
or dipping in water. (Lev. xv. 12 — 17, and xi, 32.) 
The purification of tents, houses, and all ordinary 
household furniture, was by sprinkling with the 
"water of separation." (Numb. xix. 18.) Gold and 
all that would abide the fire, when taken as spoils in 
battle, was purified by passing through the fire, and 



BATHINGS AND WASHINGS. 57 

then sprinkling with "the water of separation." 
(Numb. xxxi. 22, 23.) Altars, the Tabernacle, and 
"all the vessels of the ministry," were purified by 
sprinkling with blood. (Heb. ix. 21, 22.) 



§ 10. The Bathings and Washings required by the Law. 

On the subject of the bathings and washings 
required by the law of Moses, we remark : 

1. The words used in the Hebrew, and in the 
Greek of the Septuagint, and translated in our Eng- 
lish version by the words bathe and wash, are, con- 
fessedly, words having no reference to mode; and, 
therefore, are properly translated in our English ver- 
sion. In Lev. xv. 5, both of these words occur. 
"And whosoever shall touch his bed, shall wash 
(Se-pt _plunei) his clothes, and hathe (Sept. lousetai) 
himself in water." In the "New Version," the first 
of these words is translated wash in Rev. vii. 14. 
"And they washed their robes;" and the other is 
translated wash also, in Rev. i. 5. "And washed us 
from our sins." The Greek language has the word 
kataduno, corresponding exactly to our word im- 
merse,' and the word hapto, meaning to dip (although 
this is not its only meaning), and the last mentioned 
of these words is frequently used in the Septuagint, 

3* 



58 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

in the sense of dip ; and this in the very passages in 
which the bathing of the body is prescribed (e. g. 
Lev. xix. 18,19, "And he shall take hyssop, and 
dip (bapsei) it in water, &c.) ; and yet, in no instance 
is either of these words used to designate the bath- 
ings enjoined ; but instead thereof, we have general 
terms, translated even in the "New Version" by our 
word wash. 

2. The oriental manner of washing the hands and 
feet, at the present day, is not by putting them in 
water, but by pouring water upon them; and this 
has been the custom, in eastern countries, as far 
back as the days of Elijah; as we learn from 2 
Kings, iii. 11, where Elijah's attendant is spoken of 
as "Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who jpowred water on 
the hands of Elijah." The oriental method of bath- 
ing, at the present day, is not by immersing the 
body in the water of the bath, but by having the 
water thrown upon the body by an attendant, as all 
travellers tell us. 

3. A fundamental principle in the Mosaic law of 
purification, viz. : the principle of defilement by 
contact, would forbid bathing by immersion, when 
performed for purposes of purification, unless that 
bathing were in running water. 

This principle of defilement by contact runs all 
through the Mosaic law. In the case of " the water 



BATHINGS AND WASHINGS. 59 

of separation," for example, the priest who presided 
at the slaughter and burning of the heifer, and the 
person who performed a part of the labor under the 
priest's direction, were both rendered unclean, by 
touching the heifer. The a clean person " who 
gathered the ashes of the heifer, was rendered 
unclean by their touch. The person who afterwards 
sprinkled the one to be cleansed by these ashes, was 
rendered unclean by the act. And any one even- 
touching "the water of separation" was thereby 
defiled. See Numb. xix. That the reader may see 
how far this principle was carried, let him read 
attentively Lev. xi. 33, 34. "And every earthen 
vessel wherein any of them" (i. e., unclean animal 
or creeping thing), "falleth, whatsoever is in it, shall 
be unclean; and ye shall break it. Of all meat 
which may be eaten, that on which such water" 
(i. e., water contained in a vessel defiled by the toach 
of an unclean animal or creeping thing), "cometh, 
shall be unclean; and all drink that maybe drunk 
in any such vessel, shall be unclean ;" the only excep- 
tion made being in the case of "a fountain or pit, 
wherein was plenty of water." Ver. 36. Upon the 
Mosaic principle of defilement by contact, had a 
person bathed by immersion, or washed his hands by 
dipping them in any ordinary household water-vessel 
or bath, or even cistern, he would thereby have defiled 



60 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

the whole body of water, and the vessel which con- 
tained it; and these, in their turn, unless first purified, 
would have defiled any water which might subsequent- 
ly have been put in them. And thus, one such bathing 
would have rendered a long series of cleansing acts, 
to be subsequently performed, absolutely necessary. 

For these three reasons we conclude; not simply 
that there is no evidence that personal purifications 
were ever effected by immersion; we go further 
than this, and affirm that the Scriptures give us good 
reason to believe that immersion was never resorted 
to for such a purpose. 

The only instances in which immersion may have 
been resorted to, was in the purification of certain 
inanimate things, such as "raiment, skins, sacks, and 
culinary vessels of wood. 7 ' Of these, it is said in 
Lev. xi. 32, "They must be put in water." (Sept. 
baphasetai.) The quantity of water defiled in im- 
mersing such things would be small, and the Mosaic 
law, in its principles, might be observed without 
great inconvenience. 

§11. The Effect of Purification. 

An unclean person, according to the law of Moses, 
was, in all circumstances, excluded from participa- 
tion in the public worship of Jehovah, and from all 



EFFECT OF PURIFICATION. 61 

intimate association with God's people. If the 
uncleanness were not of a serious kind, it did not 
exclude a person from all association with the clean ; 
but only such intimate association as is involved in 
eating together. (Acts x. 28.) But if the unclean- 
ness were such as that resulting from touching a 
dead body slain in battle, or from the leprosy, it 
excluded the person from the camp or city where his 
brethren were. (Numb. xxxi. 34, Lev. xiii. 45, 46.) 
In all instances, even those of slightest uncleanness, the 
unclean person was strictly excluded from the sanc- 
tuary; and this, in certain cases, under penalty of 
death. (Lev. xii. 4; Numb. xix. 20; Ex. xxx. 21; 
Acts xxi. 27-29.) Purification removed these re- 
strictions, and admitted the purified person to un- 
restrained association with God's people, and gave 
him access to the solemn, public worship of Jehovah. 

An unclean thing could not be used in the service 
of the sanctuary ; nor by a clean person, in the ordi- 
nary business of life. Purification removed these 
restrictions. 

The rites of purification prescribed in the law of 
Moses had a reference to the state and condition of 
things then existing, and an immediate effect upon 
the person receiving them, in admitting that person 
to unrestrained association with God's people, and 
to participation in the public worship of Jehovah. 



62 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

Besides this — they were all typical, exhibiting spirit- 
ual truth in a visible form, as we are most clearly 
taught in the word of God ; and thus they formed a 
homogeneous part of the system of worship established 
in Moses' day, which was " a shadow of good things 
to come." As in uncleanness, and its consequence, 
in excluding the unclean person from association with 
God's people, and all part in his public worship, we 
have symbolized sin in its fearful consequences ; so in 
purification, and its visible effect, we have symbo- 
lized the removal of guilt and the blessed consequences 
flowing therefrom. 



§ 12. Definition of the word Purify (katharizo). 

With this summary of the Mosaic law of purifica- 
tion before us, we give as a definition of the word 
purify, as used in Scripture : — 

1. To purify is to administer a prescribed rite, by 
which a person, before excluded from association 
with God's people and the worship of the sanctuary, 
is publicly declared to be re-admitted to association 
with the one and participation in the other. This 
may be called the technio sense of the word. 
Ex. " And the Levites were purified" (i. e. had the 
rite of purification administered to them), " and they 



DEFINITION OF THE WORD PURIFY. 63 

washed their garments, and Aaron offered them as an 
offering unto the Lord." (Numb. viii. 21.) 

2. To purify is visibly to separate unto God's ser- 
vice. This we would call the literal sense of the 
term. Ex. " And the priest shall offer it before the 
Lord, and make an atonement for her, and she shall 
be cleansed" {purified — i. e. the restriction arising 
from the issue of her blood shall be removed, and she 
visibly separated unto God's service) " from the issue 
of her blood." (Lev. xii. 7.) 

These two uses of the word purify may be illus- 
trated by our use of the analogous word inaugurate. 
We may say that the delivering of the keys and a 
Bible are a part of the inauguration of the president 
of a college — meaning by the inauguration, the rite by 
which a new president is inducted into office. Or, 
using the term in what we have called a literal sense, 
we may say, that a president of a certain college was 
inaugurated under very favorable circumstances — 
meaning thereby that he was inducted into office 
under very favorable circumstances. 

3. Since the purifying rites of the law symbolized 
the removal of the guilt and pollution of sin, the 
word purify naturally came to be used in what we 
would call its spiritual sense, the name of the symbol 
being put for that of the thing symbolized. When 
thus used, it means regenerate, sanctify. Ex. " And 



64 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

he shall purify (i. e. sanctify) the sons of Levi, that 
that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in right- 
eousness." (Mai. iii. 3.) This is much the most 
common use of the word in the New Testament. 
Ex. " And put no difference between us and them, 
'purifying'''' (i. e. sanctifying) " their hearts by faith." 
(Acts, xv. 9.) 

Which of these three senses belongs to the word 
purify, in any particular passage of Scripture, must 
be determined by an examination of the context ; 
and, as a general thing, the Bible student will find 
but little difficulty in thus determining the meaning 
of the word in each particular passage. 



§ 13. Definition of Baptize (baptizo). 

As already intimated, we believe that the word 
baptizo, when used as a religious term, is used in the 
Word of God, as substantially the same in meaning 
with the word Katharizo. And hence we would 
define it : — 

1. To mean the administration of a rite, whereby 
a person is admitted to association with God's people. 
This we call its technic sense. 

2. To mean the visible separation of the baptized 
person from the world, and into association with 



DEFINITION OF BAPTIZE. 65 

God's people. This we call its literal sense. In 
this sense its meaning is very nearly the same with 
the word consecrate. 

3. To mean regenerate, sanctify. This we call its 
spiritual sense. 

And we add — that as in the case of the word 
purify, we must determine which of these senses 
belongs to it, in any particular passage of Scripture, 
by an examination of the context. 

Note. — That we may avoid the constantly repeated introduc- 
tion of the word baptizo, in the following pages, the use of this 
word in the original will be indicated by printing the corres- 
ponding words in small capitals — baptize, baptism. The same 
rule will be observed with respect to the word Kathaeizo, 
translated in our English Bible by the words pueify, cleanse, 
pttege. 



6Q THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



CHAPTEK IY. 

EXAMINATION OF THE USE OF BAPTIZO, IN THE SEPTUAGINT 
VERSION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

§ 14. II. Kings, v. 14. § 15. Ecclesiasticus, xxxiv. 25. § 16. Judith, xii. 7. § 17. 
Isaiah, xxi. 4. 

The word hwptizo is used four times in the septuagint 
version of the Old Testament. As it is in this ver- 
sion we first meet with the Hellenistic Greek, or 
Greek of the Synagogue, the peculiar idiom in which 
the New Testament is written, we will examine 
these instances before turning to the New Testament 
itself. 

§ 14. II. Kings, Y. 14. 

"And his (i. e. Naaman's) servants came near 
and spake unto him, and said : My father, if the 
prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst 
thou not have done it ? how much rather then, when 
he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean." (v. 13.) 
" Then went he down, and dipped (baptized) himself 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 67 

seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the 
man of God ; and his flesh came again like nnto the 
flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (v. 11.) 

That this washing here enjoined was considered, 
both by Elisha and Naaman, as a religions washing 
or purification, and is so set forth in the context, ap- 
pears from several considerations. 

1. The cure sought was expected, not from any 
medicinal action of the waters of the Jordan, but from 
a direct exercise of divine power. Hence Elisha's 
language, in his message to the king of Israel, — " Let 
him come now unto me, and he shall know that 
there is a prophet" (not a physician) " in Israel," (v. 8.) 
And hence, too, IsTaaman's language, when he turned 
away in a rage : " Behold, I thought, he will surely 
come out to me, and stand and call on the name of 
the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, 
and recover the leper," (v. 11.) It will not appear 
strange that Naaman, although a Syrian and not an 
Israelite, should thus have understood this matter, if 
we call to mind the fact that religious washings or 
purifications were not peculiar to the Israelites, but 
formed a part of the ritual worship of almost all an- 
cient nations'; as they do of many heathen nations 
at the present day. To bathe in the sacred waters of 
the Ganges is one of the highest acts of devotion 
which the Hindoo can perform ; and of the existence 



68 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

of similar notions at a very early day, we have a 
proof in the washing of Pharoah's daughter at the 
Nile, "not for pleasure, but for purification," as 
Bishop Patrick remarks. (See Exod. ii. 5.) 

2. Elisha promises to Naaman, on condition of 
obedience, not healing only, but cleansing also. " Go 
and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall 
come again to thee" (here is the promise of healing), 
" and thou shalt be clean " (here is the promise of 
cleansing also). And in the subsequent account of 
Naaman's obedience, and its consequences, we read, 
" And his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a 
little child" (here was the healing), "and he was 
clean," or cleansed (here was the cleansing also). 
And let the reader notice, that the word translated, 
clean, is, in both instances, the word commonly used 
in the Septuagint to designate the cleansings or puri- 
fications enjoined in the law of Moses. 

3. After the cure of his leprosy is effected, ]STaa- 
man treats his washing in Jordan as a cleansing or 
purification, i. e. a separation unto the worship of 
Jehovah the God of Israel, by the direction of whose 
Prophet, and in the river of the land of whose pecu- 
liar people, the washing had been performed. " And 
he (Naaman) said, Behold, now I know that there is 
no God in all the earth but in Israel ; thy servant 
will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacri- 



BAPTIZO ES" THE OLD TESTAMENT. 69 

fice unto other gods, but unto the Lord." (Yerses 
15-17.) 

Admitting now, that the word used in the original 
Hebrew, the inspired text, is a word which means to 
dip (although this is not its only meaning, since in 
Gen. xxxvii. 31, the seventy translate it by moluno, 
which never means to dip, but " to soil, to stain, to 
defile"), the question comes up, why did the seventy, 
in their rendering of the passage under examination, 
translate it by the word baptisof The Baptist 
answers — Because Naaman's washing was a dipping 
in Jordan, and baptiso was the proper word to convey 
this idea. We answer, because they regarded it as a 
religious washing, and they meant so to designate it 
by styling it a baptism. 

Our answer is, we think, the more probable one, 
for two reasons : 1. The religious character of Naa- 
man's washing is prominently set forth in the con- 
text, whilst its character as an immersion (if he did 
dip himself in Jordan,) is left to be inferred from the 
one fact that it was performed in or at the Jordan. 
2. This is the only instance in which the Hebrew 
word, here translated by baptiso, is used to designate 
a religious washing or purification ; and it is the only 
instance in which the seventy have translated it by 
baptiso. It occurs in the Hebrew text, in Gen. 
xxxvii. 31 ; Exod. xii. 22 ; Lev. ix. 9 ; Deut. xxxiii. 24 ; 



70 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

Ruth, ii. 14; 2 Kings, viii. 15, in the sense of dip or 
stain, and in none of these instances is it translated by 
haptizo. 

What weight ought to be given to Dr. Carson's 
frivolous objection, that " if the meaning of the word 
is purify, then there would be seven purifications," 1 
the reader will learn, by turning to Lev. xiv., where 
in the process for cleansing the leper, he is at three 
different stages of his cleansing pronounced clean by 
the priest, vs. 7, 9 and 20 ; or from Dr. Carson's 
own use of the word baptism, by which he under- 
stands immersion, and immersion only, when speaking 
of the "trine-immersion" practised in the Greek 
church ; the three immersions constituting but one 
baptism (i. e. immersion according to Dr. C). 



§ 15. Ecclesiasticus, XXXIY. 25. 

" He that washeth (baptizeth, Sep.) himself after 
the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, 
what availeth his washing?" 

That the cleansing rite here referred to, and styled 
a baptism in the Septuagint, is the rite prescribed in 
the 19th chapter of Numbers, is conceded on all 
hands. The cleansing of a person who had become 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 316. 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 71 

defiled by touching a dead body, was effected by 
one rite, and one only, viz.: sprinkling upon him 
"the water of separation." "Whoso toucheth the 
dead body of any man that is dead, and pukifieth 
not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord ; and 
that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the 
water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he 
shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not 
purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among 
the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanc- 
tuary of the Lord ; the water of separation hath not 
teen sprinkled upon him; he is unclean." Numb, 
xix. 13, 20. "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, 
and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh." Heb. ix. 
13. The expressions "ashes of a heifer" and "water 
of separation," are used interchangeably in the 
Scriptures, to designate the purifying material used 
in this rite. An instance of this we have in Numb, 
xix. 9. "And a man that is clean shall gather up 
the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the 
camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the 
congregation of the children of Israel, for a water of 
separation ." This use of these expressions has 
arisen, doubtless, from the fact that the ashes of the 
heifer was the essential ingredient in "the water of 



72 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

separation," and the material actually sprinkled 
upon the person to be cleansed. 

If the word baptizo " always signifies to dip, never 
expressing anything but mode," we ask where was 
the baptism here? Dr. Carson writes: "The answer 
must be obvious to every person who consults 
Numb. xix. 19, which shows that sprinkling was but 
a part of that purification, and that the unclean 
person was also bathed in water. It is this bathing 
which is effected by baptism." * 

Numb. xix. 19 reads: " And the clean person shall 
sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on 
the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall 
purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe him- 
self in water, and shall be clean at even." Here " he" 
has for its antecedent, "the clean person who shall 
sprinkle upon the unclean" This which appears, 
even in our English version, is seen most clearly in 
the Septuagint, and is placed beyond all question by 
ver. 21, which is an explanatory repetition of ver. 
19, just as ver. 20 is of ver. 13. "And it shall be a 
perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth 
the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and 
he that toucheth the water of separation shall be 
unclean until even." The fact that he is spoken of, 
in ver. 19, as a "clean person," is not at variance 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 66. 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 73 

with this idea, since he became unclean by the 
operation of sprinkling. His case is just like that of 
the one who gathered "the ashes of the heifer." 
"And a man that is clean shall gather the ashes of 
the heifer ; and he that gathereth the ashes of the 
heifer, shall wash his clothes and be unclean until 
even." Yers. 9, 10. The defilement acquired by 
the person thus sprinkling the water of separation, 
as also that acquired in gathering the ashes of the 
heifer, was but a slight defilement, and, therefore, 
was purged away, by bathing the body and washing 
the clothes; the rites of purification for cases of 
slight defilement. (See § 7.) 

Most unfortunately, then, for Dr. Carson's expla- 
nation, the person who had become unclean by 
touching a dead body, and whose purification is 
styled a baptism in the passage under examination, 
was not the person directed to bathe himself and 
wash his clothes. For him, there is but one purify- 
ing rite prescribed, and that is sprinkling with the 
water of separation. Here then, we have a rite, to 
which the name of a baptism is given in the Septua- 
gint, which was, beyond all question, a purification; 
and in which, according to the express declaration 
of Scripture, there was nothing approaching nearer 
to an immersion than sprinkling with the water of 
separation. 

4 



74 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

Instance of the use of the word baptizo as a religious 
term by Josephus. 

"When, therefore, any persons were denied by a 
dead body, they put a little of these ashes" (i. e., the 
ashes of the heifer) "into spring water, with hyssop, 
and dipping (baptizing, Josephus) part of these 
ashes in it, they sprinkled with it, both on the third 
day and on the seventh, and after that they were 
clean." (Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, book iv. 
chap. 4th, Whiston's translation.) 

This instance from Josephus is the only one cited 
by Dr. Carson, in which the word baptizo seems to 
be used as a religious term ; and we direct the read- 
er's attention to it, in connection with the examina- 
tion of Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 25, because they both 
refer to the same cleansing rite. Josephus, in the 
passage under examination, is evidently giving a 
summary of the Mosaic law contained in the 19th 
chapter of Numbers. 

In what sense does Josephus use the word baptizo, 
when he speaks of the ashes as being baptized in the 
water? Evidently in the sense of dipping, says Dr. 
Carson; and so Winston has translated it. To this 
we object. The ashes are already described as "put 
into the spring water," in the member of the Sen- 
tence immediately preceding this; and to translate 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 75 

bajptizo here, to dip, is to make one member of the 
sentence a mere useless repetition of the other. The 
word is here used in the sense of purify, i. e., set 
apart for a sacred use; for this is the sense of the 
word purify, when used respecting inanimate things. 
(See § 10.) 

As a substitute for the awkward (to say the J east 
of it) translation of Whiston, we would render it: 
"When, therefore, any persons were denied by a 
dead body, they put a little of the ashes to spring 
water, and thus (baptizing) setting them apart to a 
sacred use, with hyssop, they sprinkle the unclean 
person with them on the third day, and also on the 
seventh day; and after that, they are clean. 



§ 16. Judith XII. 7. 

Yer. 5. "Then the servant of Holofernes brought 
her (Judith) into the tent, and she slept till 
midnight, and she arose when it was toward 
the morning watch; 

6. And sent to Holofernes, saying, let my lord now 

command, that thine handmaid may go forth 
unto prayer. 

7. Then Holofernes commanded his guard, that they 

should not stay her: thus she abode in the 



76 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

cainp three days, and went out in the night, 
into the valley of Bethulia, and washed (bap- 
tized, Sep.) herself in a fountain of water, by 
the camp. 

8. And when she came out, she besought the Lord 

God of Israel, to direct her way to the raising 
up of the children of her people. 

9. So she came in clean, and remained in her tent, 

until she did eat her meat in the evening. 

That this washing of Judith, here styled a bap- 
tism, was a religions washing or purification, appears 
from several considerations. 

1. It was a wasning performed as a preparation 
for prayer. "And she sent to Holofernes, saying, 
let my lord now command, that thine handmaid may 
go forth to prayer. And when she came out, she 
besought the Lord God of Israel to direct her way to 
the raising np of the children of her people." It is 
true, that in the law of Moses, there is no specific 
rite of purification prescribed as a preparation for 
prayer, excepting in the case of the priests, "when 
they came near to the altar to minister." (See Exod. 
xxx. 17-21.) But yet, a purification in preparation 
for worship was practised by all, long before Moses' 
day, as we learn from Gen. xxxv. 2. "Then Jacob 
said unto his household, and all that were with him ; 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 77 

Put away the strange gods that are among yon, and 
be clean, and change your garments. 1 ' This direc- 
tion was given by Jacob, when about to go up with 
his family to Bethel, to worship. 

2. The effect of this washing is expressly declared 
to be that of a purification. "So she came in clean, 
and remained in the tent until she did eat her meat 
at evening." 

That this washing of Judith was performed by 
immersion, seems altogether improbable. 

1. Because even the priests, when they were about 
to engage in a more solemn act of worship; when 
"they came near to the altar to minister," were 
required to wash their hands and their feet only. 
(See Exod. xxx. 17-21.) If washing the hands and the 
feet would suffice to remove such defilement as was 
acquired in the ordinary business of life by a priest, 
surely no more would be required of a Jewish 
maiden, and one so careful to avoid every source of 
defilement, as, from the context, Judith appears to 
have been. 

2. From the 10th verse of the 13th chapter, we 
learn that her maid accompanied Judith, when she thus 
went forth to prayer. "And she gave Holofernes' 
head to her maid, and she put it in her bag of meat; 
so they twain went together, according to their cus- 
tom, nnto prayer." It is true that other reasons 



78 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

may be assigned for this; but the one most naturally 
suggested by the Scriptures, is, that like Elisha with 
his master, Elijah, she went that she might a pom- 
water" upon Judith's hands. 

3. Because this washing was performed by Judith, 
" in a fountain of water, by the camp" according to 
our English version. Or if we translate literally 
from the Septuagint, "in the camp, at a fountain of 
water." Had this record formed a part of any other 
history, these facts alone, that the washing was "at 
or in a fountain," and "in or near to" a large mili- 
tary encampment; and performed, too, by a modest 
young woman, reared with oriental notions of pro- 
priety, would, we doubt not, have forever excluded 
the idea of immersion from the mind of every 
reader. And all that Dr. Carson could say about 
the water-troughs, sometimes placed near to foun- 
tains, in the East; and of the poetic fancy of 
" Castalian nymphs bathing themselves in fountains," 
would not alter that judgment one iota. 

§ 17. Isaiah XXI. 4, 

" My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me (bap- 
tized me, Sep.); the night of my pleasure hath he 
turned into fear unto me." 

Our English version, "fearfulness affrighted me," 



BAPTIZO IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 79 

is a literal translation of the Hebrew; so that the 
version of the Seventy, in their use of the word 
" baptized," must be regarded as a paraphrase rather 
than a translation ; and in just what sense they did 
use it, it is difficult to determine. Nor is it of any 
importance that we should determine its meaning 
here, in so far as our present inquiry is concerned ; 
since — 1, " The language of the whole passage is so 
highly figurative, that no prudent reasoner would 
make any use of it in determining the literal mean- 
ing of a word." And 2, The word is here evidently 
used as a secular, and not as a religious term ; and it 
is its use as a religious term, alone, we are attempt- 
ing to determine. 



80 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



CHAPTEK Y. 

APPLICATION OF ftcvptizO, IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, TO 

MOSAIC PURIFICATIONS. 

§ 18. Mark yii. 4, and Luke xi. 38. § 19. Hebrews ix. 10. § 20. Hebrews vi. 2. 

In the New Testament, in four instances, ritual 
purifications prescribed in Moses' law, are termed 
baptisms. These instances we purpose examining in 
the present chapter. 



§ 18. Mark YII. 4. 

Yer. 1. "Then came together unto him the Phari- 
sees, and certain of the Scribes, which came 
from Jerusalem. 

2. And when they saw certain of his disciples eat 

bread with defiled (that is to say, with un- 
washen) hands, they found fault. 

3. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they 

wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tra- 
dition of the elders. 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 81 

4. And when they come from the market, except 
they wash (baptize), they eat not. And 
many other things there be, which they have 
received to hold, as the washing (baptizing) 
of cnps, and pots, and brazen vessels, and 
tables." 

Luke XL 38. 

Ver. 37. "And as he spake, a certain Pharisee 

besought him to dine with him : and he went 

in and sat down to meat. 
38. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled 

that he had not first washed (baptized) before 

dinner." 

These two passages are here placed together, not 
because they are parallel passages, for the incidents 
they record occurred on very different occasions; 
but because the one will serve in some measure to 
explain the other. 

That the baptisms here spoken of were regarded 
by all parties as ritual cleansings, is evident from the 
whole tenor of the context. Indeed, no writer on 
either side, in so far as we know, has ever called this 
in question. The only point about which there is 
difference of opinion is, whether they were immer 
sions or not. And let the reader notice, that they 
4* 



82 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

must all have been immersions, in order that we 
may here translate the word baptizo immerse, since 
it is, in these passages, applied alike to all. 

First. The washing of hands is mentioned among 
these baptisms practised by the Jews. 

That the washing (baptism) which the Pharisee 
expected from our Lord, before dinner, as recorded 
in Luke xi. 38, was simply a washing of the hands, is 
placed beyond all reasonable question by Mark vii. 3, 
"For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they 
wash their hands oft, eat not." 

1. The washing of the hands, among the Jews, 
from time immemorial, has been performed by pour- 
ing water upon them, and not by dipping the hands 
in water. See 2 Kings, iii. 11. 

2. A further proof that such was the method 
adopted in our Lord's day, where purification was 
aimed at, we have in the record contained in John 
ii. 6. "And there were set there six water pots of 
stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, 
containing two or three firkins apiece." The word 
here translated "water pots" is the same word used 
to designate the vessel brought by the woman of 
Samaria to Jacob's well (see John iv. 28), and is 
the word used in the Septuagint, where our version 
uses the word pitcher, in Gen. xxiv. 15: "Behold 
Rebekah came out, with her pitcher upon her shoul- 



BAPTIZ0 IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 83 

der" and in Judges, vii. 14: "And he put a trum- 
pet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and 
lamps within the pitchers." Judging from the use 
to which these water pots or pitchers were put, viz. 
that of carrying water from the well, the pitcher 
being placed "upon the shoulder," we have every 
reason to suppose that they were of like form with 
those used in the East for the same purpose at the 
present day — that of broad-mouthed bottles, rather 
than jars. E"ow, such vessels, whilst very well 
adapted to washing the hands or feet by pouring, are 
not at all suited to washing by dipping or immer- 
sion. 

Their size, "holding two or three firkins apiece," 
may seem to be at variance with this idea. But it 
must be borne in mind, 1, That on this occasion, 
they were intended to answer the demands for purifi- 
cation of the large company collected at a wedding ; 
when, of course, pitchers of the largest size would be 
selected. And 2, That the word here translated 
firkins, if we take the only guide we have to its 
meaning as used in our Lord's day, viz. its use in 
the Septuagint (2 Chron. iv. 5), to translate the 
Hebrew word bath, must be understood to be a 
measure much smaller than our "firkin," having the 
capacity of only about one cubic foot. And we may 
remark that this was about the capacity of the meas- 



84 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

ure to which the English name " firkin" was applied, 
at the time our English version of the Bible was 
made. A pitcher, of the capacity of two or three 
cubic feet, might well be used for pouring water 
upon the hands of guests at a wedding, but would 
utterly exclude the idea of the immersion of the per- 
sons of those guests, as some Eaptist writers have 
imagined was customary among the Jews. 

Second. Pots and Irazen vessels are mentioned 
among the things baptized. 

According to the law of Moses, such things were 
purified, in all ordinary instances, by sprinkling them 
with the water of separation; and when taken as 
spoils of war, by passing through the fire, and th m 
sprinkling with the water of separation. (See § 9.) 
It is true, that the baptisms here spoken of, are said 
to have been practised in obedience to " the traditions 
of the elders." But then, it should be remarked — 
1, In the expression, "Except they wash their hands 
oft," we have a clear intimation that the addition 
made to Moses' law by the elders, was in the way of 
a great multiplication of the washings, and not in the 
way of a change in the Mosaic mode. And 2, That 
the substitution of dipping for sprinkling with the 
water of separation, i. e. the substitution of the less 
for the more solemn mode (see § 8), is utterly at 
variance with the course of superstition, which is 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 85 

always onward ; and also, at variance with all the 
intimations of the text. 

Third. Tables (Jclinon) are also mentioned among 
the things baptized. 

The law of Moses is specific respecting the purifi- 
cation of household furniture ; and according to that 
law, this is to be effected by " sprinkling with the 
water of separation." (See § 9.) 

On the one hand, we have no reason to suppose 
that the law has been departed from, in this particu- 
lar ; whilst on the other hand, there is a strong 
improbability, we might say, almost an impossibility, 
from the size and structure of these tables, that they 
should have been purified by immersion. If we 
follow our English version, we must understand these 
tables to have been the tables at which the Jews ate 
their meals. Or, if we translate the word Minon, as 
most modern scholars do, couches, we must understand 
these couches to have been those on which the Jews 
in our Lord's day, in common with the Greeks and 
Romans, reclined at their meals — such as those used 
by Christ and his disciples at the last supper. These 
couches were of such a size as to accommodate sev- 
eral persons each (see John xxi. 20), and moreover, 
were generally made fast to the walls of the building. 
Is not immersion, :'n such a case as this, to the last 
degree, improbable ? "We need not say, impossible ; 



86 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

because, as Dr. Carson suggests, these tables or 
couches, might have been made to take to pieces, and 
so immersed, piece by piece. And so, we add, might 
houses be made to take to pieces ; and therefore, if 
we had read in the Scriptures, of the baptism of 
houses, it would not, upon such principles, have 
proved, that baptizo did not mean " to dip, never sig- 
nifying anything but mode." 

§ 19. Hebrews, IX. 10. 

Yer. 9. " Which," i. e. the first tabernacle — " was a 
figure for the time then present, in which were 
offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not 
make him that did the service perfect, as per- 
taining to the conscience ; 

10. "Which stood only in meats and drinks, and 
divers washings, (baptisms) and carnal ordi- 
nances, imposed on them until the time of 
reformation." 

A literal translation of this passage is — "Which 
was a type for the time then present, in which were 
offered gifts and sacrifices ; which cannot, with 
respect to the conscience, make perfect, the person 
worshiping only with meats and drinks, and diverse 
baptisms, carnal ordinances, imposed until the time 
of reformation." 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 87 

This literal translation is given, because, in our 
English version, several phrases are interpolated in 
the text (as is acknowledged by printing them in 
italics) ; and these phrases, we think, render the con- 
nection between the several members of the sentence 
obscure, where that connection is very plain in the 
original. And also, because the Jcai " and," before 
"carnal ordinances," is now rejected from all our 
best editions of the Greek Testament. 

What were these diverse baptisms, of which Paul 
here speaks, as " imposed until the time of the refor- 
mation?" We answer — the purifications enjoined in 
the law of Moses. 

To the translation of the word haptismois, here, 
immersions, there are we think, insuperable objec- 
tions. 

1. The baptisms here spoken of, it is evident from 
the context, were acts of personal cleansing, " Which 
cannot, with respect to the conscience, make perfect, 
the person worshiping only with meats and drinks 
and diverse baptisms." Now, according to the law 
of Moses, not only were personal cleansings, in most 
cases, effected without anything which could possibly 
be construed into an immersion, but there are good 
scriptural reasons for believing, that immersion of the 
person was never practised. (See § 8 and 10.) And 
let it be remarked, we have here nothing to do with 



88 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

customs which may have been introduced under 
authority of " the traditions of the elders," since these 
baptisms were " imposed until the time of reforma- 
tion ;" and constituted the service of the first taber- 
nacle, " a type of good things to come." An inspired 
apostle would call nothing, but that " imposed " of 
God, " a type of good things to come." 

2. In verse 13th, Paul gives a specification of one 
of these baptisms — " For if the blood of bulls and 
goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eter- 
nal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge 
your conscience from dead works to serve the living 
God ?" The close logical connection, between verses 
10 and 13, requires us to consider the latter verse, as 
containing a specification under the former. Let the 
reader turn to Heb. IX. and read from verse 8 to 
verse 15, and he will see how close this connection is. 

3. The baptisms here spoken of, are spoken of as 
" diverse" or different. If mode is the only thing 
essential to baptism — as the object of baptism was 
always the same under the law of Moses, viz. the 
removal of uncleanness — the application of this epi- 
thet " diverse," to baptisms performed, always in the 
same mode and with the same object, is inexplicable. 
Take the view for which we contend, and the appli- 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 89 

cation of the epithet " diverse," is at once evident, 
and most appropriate. In some instances, the bap- 
tism was a washing of the hands and feet ; in others, 
the offering of a prescribed sacrifice ; in others, 
sprinkling with the ashes of a heifer ; and so on, 
through a long catalogue of rites " imposed until the 
time of reformation." 



§ 20. Hebrews VI. 2. 

Yer. 1. " Therefore leaving the principles of the doc- 
trine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; 
not laying again the foundation of repentance 
from dead works, and of faith toward God, 

2. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of 
hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and 
of eternal judgment." 

JSTear the close of the preceding chapter, Paul 
writes — "For when for the time ye ought to be 
teachers, ye have need that one teach you again 
which be the first principles of the oracles of God" 
(Heb. v. 12.) For the expression, "the first princi- 
ples of the oracles of God," he substitutes, in the 
passage before us, the phrase, " the principles of the 
doctrine of Christ." To the mind of a Jew, the idea 
naturally suggested by " the oracles of God," would 



90 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

be that of the Old Testament Scriptures ; and by 
immediately afterwards substituting for it, the phrase, 
"the principles of the doctrine of Christ," he would 
present to their minds, the truth that the doctrine of 
Christ, and that of the Old Testament Scriptures, 
were one and the same. 

This would be in perfect keeping with the course 
of thought and argument, which prevails throughout 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. In this epistle, to use 
Paul's own language — " unto the Jews, he becomes 
a Jew, that he may gain the Jews ; to them that are 
under the law, as under the law, that he may gain 
them that are under the law ;" illustrating, explaining, 
and proving " the doctrine of Christ," from " the 
oracles of God," i. e. the Old Testament Scriptures. 
Hence, when he comes to specify " principles," we 
must understand him as referring to them as exhib- 
ited in the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as in 
the clearer light of the ISTew Dispensation. 

The reader will find but little difficulty in catching 
the Apostle's style of thought, if he will turn to the 
xi. chapter, and study the illustration there given of 
it, in the case of " faith toward God." There were 
baptisms under the Old Testament dispensation, so 
much the same in their effect in visibly separating 
the baptized unto God's service, and so much the 
same in their symbolic import with the baptism 



BAPTIZ0 IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 91 

administered in Paul's day, that to the Jews, familiar 
with the Old Testament Scriptures, and rightly under- 
standing those Scriptures, " the doctrine of baptisms," 
might well be reckoned among the " first principles 
of the oracles of God," or " the doctrine of Christ." 
It is in this view of the matter, as we think, that 
Paul here uses the word baptisms, in the plural, 
meaning to include, not only Christian baptism, and 
the baptism of John, but also the " diverse baptisms " 
of which he speaks in chap. ix. ver. 10, as " imposed " 
of God, under a former dispensation. By " doctrine" 
we understand — God's teaching. 

It is in this view of the Apostle's meaning, that 
we have selected the phrase, " the doctrine of bap- 
tisms," as the title of the present treatise. 



92 



THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIGURATIVE APPLICATIONS OF THE WORD " BAPTIZO." 

§ 21. Christ's Baptism in his Death, Matt. xx. 22, 23 ; Mark, x. 38, 39 ; and Luke, 
xii. 50. § 22. Baptism " unto Moses," 1 Cor. x. 2. § 23. Baptism in the Ark, 
1 Pet. iii. 21. 

§ 21. Christ's baptism in his death. 



Matt. XX. 20-23. 

Y. 20. "Then came to him the 
mother of Zebedee's child- 
ren with her sons, worship- 
ping him. 

21. And he said unto her, What 
wilt thou? She saith unto him, 
Grant that these my two sons 
may sit, the one on thy right 
hand, and the other on the 
left, in thy kingdom. 

22. But Jesus answered and said, 
Ye know not what ye ask. 
Are ye able to drink of the 
cup that I shall drink of, and 
to be baptized with the bap- 



Mark, X. 35-40. 

Y. 35. "And James and John, the 
sons of Zebedee, came unto 
him, saying, Master, we 
would that thou shouldst do 
for us whatever we shall 
desire. 

36. And he saith unto them, 
What would ye that I should 
do for you ? 

37. They say unto him, Grant 
unto us that we may sit, one 
on thy right hand, and the 
other on thy left hand, in thy 
glory. 

38. But Jesus said unto them, Ye 



BAPTIZO EST THE NEW TESTAMENT. 93 

tism that I am baptized know not what ye ask : Can 

with? They say unto him, ye drink of the cup that I 

We are able. drink of? and be baptized 

23. And he saith unto them, Ye with the baptism that I am 

shall drink indeed of my cup, baptized with ? 

and be baptized with the 39. And they say unto him, We 
baptism that I am baptized can. And Jesus said unto 

with : but to sit on my right them, Ye shall indeed drink 

hand, and on my left, is not of the cup that I drink of; 

mine to give, but it shall be and with the baptism that I 

given to them for whom it is am baptized withal shall ye 

prepared of my Father." be baptized ; 

40. But, to sit on my right hand 
and on my left hand, is not 
mine to give : but it shall be 
given to them for whom it is 
prepared. 

Luke, XII. 50. 

Yer. 49. "I am come to send fire on the earth, and 
what will I, if it be already kindled ? 

50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and 
how am I straitened till it be accom- 
plished." 

The declaration of our Lord, made in answer to the 
request of the two sons of Zebedee, and the one 
recorded in Luke xii. 50, were made on entirely dif- 
ferent occasions ; yet, from the context, it appears so 



94 THE DOCTKINE OF BAPTISMS. 

evident that he referred to his death, in "both, that 
all commentators agree that it is of this he speaks as 
the baptism which was before him. The only point 
on which commentators differ, is as to the particular 
view of his death, in which he calls it a baptism. 

Many understand our Lord to call his death a bap- 
tism inasmuch as it was to be a scene of overwhelm- 
ing suffering ; and hence, cite this use of the word 
baptize, as instances of its use in the sense of over- 
whelm. To this interpretation, we have two objec- 
tions, suggested by an examination of the passages 
themselves. 

1. Jesus asks the sons of Zebedee, " Are ye able 
to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be 
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?" 
and in their reply, as also in our Lord's subsequent 
rejoinder, the same specifications are kept up, and 
this according to the Gospels both of Matthew and 
Mark. The metaphor our Lord uses in his words, 
" are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink 
of?" is a standing metaphor with the sacred writers 
to represent bitter sufferings, and is thus used by 
Jesus himself when, " sorrowful unto death," over- 
whelmed with the very sufferings referred to in the 
passage under examination : "O my father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not 
as I will, but as thou wilt. O my father, if this cup 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 95 

may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy 
will be done." (Matt. xxvi. 39, 42.) There can be no 
doubt, then, that in the question, " Can ye drink of 
the cup that I shall drink of?" Christ refers directly 
to the overwhelming character of his sufferings in his 
death. If now we understand him to refer to his 
death, in the same aspect of it, in his question, " Can 
ye be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized 
with ?" then have the two questions but one and the 
same meaning, and we can see no reason why the 
distinction between the two questions is so carefully 
preserved, as it is, throughout both the Gospel nar- 
ratives. 

2. In Luke xii. 50, Christ speaks of this his bap- 
tism in his death, as something for the lack of which 
he is straitened, cramped in the establishment of 
his kingdom, "And how am I straitened until it 
be accomplished." Now it is not by his death, 
viewed directly as a scene of bitter suffering, but 
rather as a scene of perfect obedience of Christ, the 
sinner's substitute, on the sinner's behalf, that he 
comes into the possession of the powers and preroga- 
tives of the mediatorial throne : " And being found 
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
given him a name which is above every name ; that 



96 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
(Phil. ii. 8-11.) 

Christ's priesthood is a priesthood " after the order 
of Melchisedec," (Heb. vi. 20.) i. e., both an eternal 
and a royal priesthood; one in which the character 
of "King of righteousness and peace" is blended 
with that of "Priest of the Most High God," (See 
Heb. vii.) and by his death was he fully set aj)art 
to this royal priesthood: "For every high-priest is 
ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices ; wherefore it is 
of necessity that this man ('Christ Jesus') have 
somewhat also to offer." "For Christ is not entered 
into the holy places made with hands, which are the 
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet, that 
he should offer himself often, as the high-priest 
entereth into the holy place every year with blood 
of others ; for then must he often have suffered 
since the foundation of the world: but now, once in 
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away 
sin by the sacrifice of himself." "But this man, after 
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat 
down on the right hand of God ; from henceforth 
expecting till his enemies be made his foot-stool." 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 97 

(Heb. viii. 3, ix. 24-26. x. 12, 13.) In the view 
which Paul here gives us of Christ's sufferings, they 
are distinctly presented as consecrating sufferings 
— sufferings by which he was to be separated unto 
God's service as a royal priest; and his death, is a 
baptism, in the sense in which we understand that 
word. 

Understanding our Lord to speak of his death as 
a baptism, in this view of it, we avoid both of the 
difficulties attaching to the other interpretation ; and 
in both instances, we give to his words a meaning 
which exactly suits the context. 

1. In Matt. xx. 20-23, and Mark x. 35-40, it is 
the request of the sons of Zebedee, that " they may 
sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on his 
left, in his kingdom," which gives rise to the ques- 
tions, " Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink 
of? Can ye be baptized with the baptism that I am 
baptized with?" By drinking the cup of divine 
wrath, when he took the sinner's law-place, when 
"the chastisement of our peace was upon him," he 
redeemed from death those who were to be the sub- 
jects of his kingdom; by his baptism in his death, 
he wa3 publicly set apart to his royal priesthood, 
and "all power in heaven and in earth was given 
unto him," that he might rule, and defend, and 
establish his kingdom. How natural the questions 

5 



y» THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

then, to those aspiring to share that kingdom with 
him — " Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink 
of? Can ye be baptized with the baptism with 
which I am baptized?" 

John and James evidently had very low and earthly 
notions of the nature of the kingdom which Christ had 
come to establish ; and they had, at the same time, 
a very inadequate idea of the sufferings by which 
that kingdom was to be purchased and put into his 
possession. They did not yet understand that his 
sufferings must be unto death, although he had 
expressly informed them that such was the fact. 
Hence their reply to his questions, "We can." 
Christ Jesus, in characteristic sympathy with their 
weakness, and because they were not yet able to 
bear the whole truth, does not correct their erro- 
neous notions (erroneous, in that they were inade- 
quate); but using the terms in the sense in which 
they understood them, he replies: "Ye shall indeed 
drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism 
that I am baptized with." That the reader may 
understand how Christ could use such language in the 
sense which we give it, let him consider such passages 
of Scripture as these: "Unto him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath 
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; 
to him be glory and dominion, forever and ever, 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 99 

Amen." (Rev. i. 5, 6.) "And Jesus said unto 
them, verily, I say unto you, that ye which have 
followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall 
sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel." (Matt. xix. 28.) 

2. Turning now to Luke xii. 50, in ver. 49 our Lord 
has set forth the designs of his mission. "I am come 
to send fire on the earth," i. e. I have come to establish 
a kingdom, which, in its progress, shall be like a fire, 
consuming that which is dross, and refining all that 
is gold. "And what will I, if it be already kindled?" 
i. e. What do I wish but that it were already kindled. 
"But I have a baptism to be baptized with," i. e. I 
must be consecrated, separated unto God, as a royal 
priest, ere this, my desire, can be fulfilled; ere "all 
power in heaven and in earth shall be given" into 
my hands. "And how am I straitened until it be 
accomplished?" Christ's three years of public minis- 
try had resulted in bringing into his kingdom "one 
hundred and twenty souls." (Acts i. 15.) On the 
single day of Pentecost, after his consecration, his 
baptism in his death, "three thousand souls" were 
added to the number. (Acts ii. 41.) 

We have remarked that commentators differ as 
to the particular view of his death, in which Christ 
calls it a baptism. Most modern commentators un- 



100 THE DOCTEINE OF BAPTISMS. 

derstand him to refer to it in view of the overwhelm- 
ing sufferings by which it was to be accomplished. 
Not so the earlier Christian Fathers, especially those 
of the Eastern Church, who wrote while the Hellenis- 
tic Greek remained a living language, and who there- 
fore may be presumed to have known the meaning 
of the word baptize, as used in our Lord's day. 
These, without exception, take the view of it which 
has just been presented as the true one. Christ calls 
his death a baptism, because by that death he was to 
be set apart to the office of his royal priesthood." 1 



§ 22. IsraeVs baptism " unto Moses." 

1. Corinthians, x. 1, 2. " Moreover, brethren, I would 
not that ye should be ignorant, how that all 
our fathers were under the cloud, and all pass- 
ed through the sea; and were all baptized 
unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea." 
Paul here refers to events accompanying the pas- 
sage of the Red Sea, by Israel, in their exodus from 
Egypt. That we may see in what sense he speaks 
of these events as a "baptism, let us turn to the ac- 
count of them, given us by Moses. 

1 For proofs the reader is referred to "Beeeher on Baptism," 
pp. 61 — 67. 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 101 

1. They were baptized "in the cloudP Exod. 
xiv. 19, 20. " And the pillar of cloud went from 
before their face, and stood behind them : and it 
came between the camp of the Egyptians and the 
camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to 
them, but it gave light by night to these : so that the 
one came not near the other all the night." 

Was there any immersion of Israel in the cloud ? 
" And the pillar of cloud," — it was only a pillar / i. e. 
a small cloud in the form of a pillar — " went from 
before their face and stood behind them, and it came 
between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of 
Israel " — it was not directly over either — " and it was 
a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by 
night to these ; so that one came not near the other 
all the night." It continued between the Egyptians 
and the Israelites all the night until the sea was 
passed. To imagine the immersion of Israel in this 
cloud, is not simply to go beyond the record, but is 
to contradict that record. 

That which the cloud effected, by its peculiar 
movement, on this occasion, was a separation of Israel 
unto God's service, and this in union with Moses. 
Hence it comes " between the camp of the Egyptians 
and the camp of Israel ;" and whilst it u gives light 
to the one, it is cloud and darkness to the other ;" 
and so continues until the sea is passed — " and the 



102 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

one came not near the other all the night." This se- 
paration unto God's service, constituted Israel's 
baptism in the cloud. 

2. They were baptized" iti the sea" Exod. xiv. 27 
-31. " And Moses stretched forth his hand over the 
sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the 
morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled against 
it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the 
midst of the sea. And the waters returned and cov- 
ered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the 
hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them ; 
there remained not so much as one of them. But 
the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the 
midst of the sea ; and the waters were a wall unto 
them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the 
Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the 
Egyptians ; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon 
the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work 
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians : and the 
people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and 
his servant Moses." 

This last phrase — " and believed the Lord and his 
servant Moses," probably suggested to Paul the 
phraseology, " baptized into or unto Moses." Under- 
standing the term baptized to mean separated unto 
God's service, how appropriately does Paul style the 
passage of the sea by Israel, accompanied as it was 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 103 

by the utter destruction of the Egyptian hosts, 
their baptism in the sea. It was that they might be- 
come his peculiar people, separated from among the 
nations, and separated unto his service, that the Lord 
interposed in the miraculous manner related by 
Moses, so that Israel " walked upon dry land in the 
midst of the sea," whilst the Egyptians were over- 
thrown. 

If we translate the word hajptizo here, immersed, 
we make Paul flatly contradict Moses. Moses says, 
" they walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, 
and the waters were a wall unto them, on their right 
hand and on their left." Yet, with this record before 
him, Dr. Carson writes — " Moses, Mr. Hall tells us, 
walked on dry ground. Yes, and he got a dry dip. 
And could not a person, literally covered with oil- 
cloth, get a dry immersion in water?" 1 To attempt 
to evade the force of plainly recorded facts, by such 
worse than childish trifling with God's Word, is 
utterly unworthy the character of an expositor of 
Scripture ; and none but a desperate cause could call 
for such defense as this. 

There was an immersion on this occasion, as Moses 
informs us ; but not of baptized Israel. " And the 
waters returned, and covered the chariots and the 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 413. 



104: THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh, that came 
into the sea after them." And as the consequence 
of this immersion, Moses tells ns — "And Israel saw 
the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore." The 
Egyptians were the party immersed. Here, then, is 
a case, in which, according to the express testimony 
of Scripture, there was both a baptism and an 
immersion ; but the party baptized, was the one not 
immersed; and their baptism consisted in their 
escaping immersion; whilst the party immersed, was 
the one that was not baptized ; their immersion 
was a terrible immersion to them. 

§ 23. Baptism in the Ark. 

1 Peter, iii. 21. Yer. 18. a Eor Christ also hath 
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
that he might bring us to God, being put to 
death in the flesh, but quickened by the 
Spirit : 

19. By which also he went and preached unto the 

spirits in prison : 

20. "Which sometime were disobedient, when once 

the long-suffering of God waited in the days 
of Noah, while the Ark was a preparing, 
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved 
by water : 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 105 

21. The like figure whereunto, even baptism, doth 

also now save us"— literally, as baptism, the 
ante-type does now save us, — " (not the put- 
ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the 
answer of a good conscience toward God,) 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ : 

22. Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right 

hand of God ; angels, and authorities, and 
powers, being made subject unto him." 

We are clearly taught in Scripture, that in early 
times, God did often " so dispose the events of His 
providence, and appoint the external relations of His 
people, as to give by means of them, an exhibition 
of the better things of the Gospel ;" thus giving rise 
to that class of types, which, by way of distinction, 
are called historic types. In the passage before us, 
true Christian baptism, is declared to be an ante-type 
of the salvation of Noah, and the few that were with 
him in the ark. 

Between a type and its ante-type, there must be a 
resemblance, such that the former will set forth, and 
suggest the latter. In what particular or particulars, 
was the salvation of Noah a type of baptism ? 

Let the reader notice particularly. 1. Peter does 
not say that the ark was a type of baptism ; so that 
the shutting up of Noah in the ark, between which 

5* 



106 THE DOCTBINE OF BAPTISMS. 

and immersion, some persons have a fancy lively 
enough to discover a resemblance ; might be under- 
stood to be the particular upon which the typical 
relation rested. His declaration is — that it was the 
salvation of the eight souls in the ark, and by the 
water (our version is literal here), of which baptism 
is the antetype. 2. He does not say, that salvation 
by baptism, is the antetype of the salvation of the 
eight in the ark, but that baptism itself is the ante- 
type ; and this, that baptism which consists not in 
the mere " putting away of the filth of the flesh," 
but that which results in " the answer of a good con- 
science toward God," and saves through a the re- 
surrection of Christ Jesus." 

A statement of the question then, in exact accor- 
dance with the declaration of Peter, will be : In 
what particular or particulars, w^as the salvation of 
the eight souls (including Noah) in the ark, by the 
waters of the flood, a type of true Christian baptism ? 

Understand the word baptism to mean immersion, 
and immersion only, and give it that sense here, and 
the typical relation between the salvation of Noah, in 
the ark by water, and this baptism, is inexplicable. 
The eight were the only ones of all the inhabitants 
of the teeming earth that were saved, and they were 
not immersed; and were saved because they were 
not immersed. But understand the word baptism in 



BAPTIZO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 107 

the sense for which we contend — i. e. a visible sepa- 
ration unto God's service — and how simple the expo- 
sition of this passage. 

The salvation here spoken of was not a salvation 
from the flood. The eight were saved from the 
flood; but had Peter intended this salvation, he 
would have called it a salvation from the water, 
and not " by the water." The flood itself wrought 
out for them a greater salvation than their deliver- 
ance from its overflowing waters — a salvation similar 
to that which was wrought out for righteous Lot in 
God's terrible overthrow of the guilty cities of the 
plain. To which last Peter refers, in connection 
with the salvation of E"oah, when declaring the truth 
that, " The Lord knoweth how to deliver" (to save) 
" the godly out of temptations;" (2 Pet. ii. 9) — a sal- 
vation for them as constituting God's church, from 
the overflowing flood of iniquity which threatened to 
ingulf them. This was their salvation in the ark 
by water, which was a type of the baptism which now 
saves us. 

True Christian baptism — " not the putting away 
the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con- 
science toward God" — i. e. not the external rite, but 
the spiritual substance symbolized in that rite — now 
saves us from the dangers and temptations of an 
apostate world, and this " by the resurrection of 
Jesus Christ ;" he who " once suffered, the just for the 



108 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

unjust," but now, in his resurrection, has " ascended 
up on high, leading captivity captive," that he might 
" give gifts unto men." (Eph. iv. 8.) 

When God " opened the windows of heaven," and 
a broke up the fountains of the great deep," deluging 
the earth, he immersed the guilty multitude, now 
" in prison," to whom he had, by his spirit, preached 
long in vain ; and a terrible immersion it was to 
them. By this same deluge he baptized his little 
church in the ark, not one drop of water touching 
them ; thus visibly separating them unto his service. 
And on the cleansed earth the Church commenced 
her course anew. 

Such is a heaven-selected type of baptism ; and we 
will search the history of early times in vain to find 
one more beautiful, or more appropriate, than this 
salvation of " the eight souls m the ark, and ~by the 
water." 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE. 109 



CHAPTEE VII. 

BAPTISM WITH THE HOLT GHOST AND WITH FIRE. 

§ 24. Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark, i. 8 ; Luke, iii. 16 ; John, i. 26, 33 ; Acts, i. 4-8 ; ii. 1-4, 
16-18, 32, 33 ; x. 44-48 ; xi. 15, 16. 

Matt., iii. 11. " I indeed baptize you with water unto 
repentance : but he that cometh after me is 
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not wor- 
thy to bear: he shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire." 

Mark, i. 8. "I indeed baptize you with water : but 
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." 

Luke, iii. 16. " John answered, saying unto them 
all, I indeed baptize you with water ; but one 
mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose 
shoes I am not worthy to unloose ; he shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire." 

John, i. 26. " John answered them saying, I baptize 
with water ; but there standeth one among 
you, whom ye know not." Vs. 33. " And 1 
knew him not : but he that sent me to baptize 



110 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

with water, the same said unto me, Upon 
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending 
and remaining on him, the same is he which 
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." 

Acts, i. 4-8. " And being assembled together with 
them, commanded them that they should 
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the 
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye 
have heard of me. For John truly baptized 
with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost not many days hence. When 
they therefore were come together, they asked 
of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time 
restore again the kingdom to Israel ? And he 
said unto them, It is not for you to know the 
times or the seasons which the Father hath 
put in his own power. But ye shall receive 
power, after that the Holy Ghost has come 
upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me, 
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the 
earth." 

Acts, ii. 1-4. " And when the day of Pentecost was 

fully come, they were all with one accord in 

one place. And suddenly there came a sound 

from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and 

it filled all the house where they were sitting. 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE. Ill 

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues 
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and began to speak with other tongues, as the 
Spirit gave them utterance." 

Acts, ii. 16-18. " But this is that which was spoken 
by the prophet Joel, And it shall come to 
pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour- 
out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your 
young men shall see visions, and your old 
men shall dream dreams : And on my ser- 
vants and on my hand-maidens I willow out 
in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall 
prophesy." 

Acts, ii. 32, 33. " This Jesus hath God raised up, 
whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, 
being by the right hand of God exalted, and 
having received of the Father the promise of 
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which 
ye now see and hear." 

Acts, x. 44-48. "While Peter yet spake these 
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which 
heard the word. And they of the circum- 
cision which believed, were astonished, as 
many as came with Peter, because that on 
the Gentiles also was poured out the gift 



112 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them 
speak with tongues and magnify God. Then 
answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, 
that these should not be baptized, which 
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? 
And he commanded them to be baptized in 
the name of the Lord." 
Acts, xi. 15, 16. "And as I began to speak, the 
Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the 
beginning. Then remembered I the word 
of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed 
baptized with water : but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost." 

"We have here, placed together, all the passages 
in the New Testament which refer directly and 
explicitly to the "baptism with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire ;" that the reader, having the whole record 
before him, may be able to judge more correctly 
what this baptism was. As a summary of what is 
here stated, we give the following, viz. 

1. John, when baptizing in Jordan, utters a pro- 
phecy, or an inspired exposition of a prophecy, viz. 
That one, mightier than he, was coming, who should 
baptize, not with water as he did, but with " the Holy 
Ghost and with fire." (Matt., iii. 11 ; Luke, iii. 16.) 

2. He that was to administer this better bap- 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE. 113 

tism with " the Holy Ghost and with fire," was the 
Lord Jesus. (John, i. 33.) 

3. The Lord Jesns, after his resurrection, meets 
his disciples assembled in Jerusalem ; and repeating 
the promise given by John, of a baptism with the 
Holy Ghost not many days thereafter, commands 
them that they depart not from Jerusalem until they 
had received this baptism. (Acts, i. 4, 5.) 

4. Shortly after this, the disciples were " all with 
one accord, in one place" in Jerusalem; when sud- 
denly, "there appeared unto them cloven tongues, 
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and 
they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to 
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them 
utterance." (Acts, ii. 1-4.) 

5. This gift of the Spirit was a gift immediately 
from Christ Je3us. (Acts, ii. 32, 33.) 

6. As the consequences of this, we read: "And 
the multitude came together and were confounded, 
because that every man heard them speak in his 
own language : Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, 
and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and 
in Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and 
Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Lybia 
about Cyrene, and strangers of Pome, Jews and 
Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. Then they were 
pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the 



114: THE DOCTRINE OP BAPTISMS. 

rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall 
we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and 
be baptized, ever j one of you, in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly 
received his word, were baptized, and the same day, 
there were added unto them about three thousand 
souls. (Acts, ii. 6, 9, 10, 37, 38, 41.) 

7. In the event subsequently occurring in Cor- 
nelius' house, at Cesarea, a similar effect follows, the 
evident gift of the Holy Ghost: "For they heard 
them speak with tongues." (Acts, 10, 45.) And this, 
Peter declares to be a fulfillment of our Lord's 
words, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." 
(Acts, xi. 16.) 

What was this baptism with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire ? or rather, why was this miraculous gift of 
the Holy Ghost, in consequence of which those who 
received it "spake with other tongues," called a 
baptism? 

We answer: It is called a baptism, not on account 
of anything in the mode of bestowment of the Holy 
Ghost, or the visible symbol of the Holy Ghost ; but 
because it was a visible setting apart of the Church 
for God's service, in the fulfillment of the commission 
a little while before given to her. "Go ye, there- 
fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLT GHOST AND FIRE. 115 

name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things which I 
have commanded you." (Matt., xxviii. 19, 20.) 
"And he said unto them, that repentance and remis- 
sion of sins should be preached in his name among 
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Luke, xxiv. 
47.) This idea is most distinctly set forth in our 
Lord's words, when directing them to remain in 
Jerusalem and await the promised baptism with the 
Holy Ghost. " But ye shall receive power after that 
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be 
witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all 
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts 
of the earth." (Acts, i. 8.) And the subsequent 
history is but an illustration of these words. The gift 
of tongues was " a sign " (samion), as Paul tells us, 
"to them that believe not." (1 Cor., xiv. 22.) 
Christ's own miracles were signs, (See Matt., xii. 38; 
John, ii. 18) i. e., "tokens and indications of the near 
presence and working of God;" and this gift of 
tongues had all the legitimate effects of a sign, as 
related in the second chapter of the Acts. 

John's language, repeated by Christ himself, 
seems clearly to imply that this baptism was to be 
a nobler and truer baptism than that with water. 
And so it appears, in the view which we take of it. 
This baptism was a literal, not a figurative one as 



116 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

Dr. Carson contends. In water-baptism, such as 
that administered by John, there is, 1. The living 
person baptized. 2. The sensible element (using 
the term element in its theological sense) with 
which the baptism is performed, i. e. water; and 
3. The living person administering the baptism. In 
the case before us, there are, 1. Living persons bap- 
tized. 2. A sensible element with which the bap- 
tism is performed, i. e. the cloven tongues of fire. 
Were this wanting, the baptism might be called a 
figurative baptism. And 3. A living person admin- 
istering the baptism, viz. the Lord Jesus — not 
visible to mortal sense, it is true, but perfectly 
visible to the eye of faith. "He hath shed forth 
this which ye now see and hear." This baptism was 
a nobler baptism than that of John, because per- 
formed by a nobler person, and for a nobler pur- 
pose. In ordinary baptisms, we but symbolize the 
gift of the Holy Ghost ; and whether or not the sym- 
bol shall represent that which has been truly 
received into the heart, depends, not upon the bap- 
tizer, but upon the faith of him who receives the 
baptism. Here, the Lord Jesus, himself the baptizer 
in his sovereignty, bestows the gift along with the 
symbol. In this view of the matter, we remark 
the baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire, 
administered on the day of Pentecost, was the truest 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE. 117 

baptism ever administered upon earth. In the one 
particular in which water-baptism is often nothing 
more than a figure, a shadow without a substance, 
this baptism was real. 

"Was this baptism an immersion % Will the word 
baptizo, in this account of the baptism " with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire," bear the translation im- 
merse or dip, without doing violence to the context ? 

First. — There was a baptism " with fire." It is 
distinctly so set forth by John, as his words are 
recorded by Matthew and Luke, and also in the in- 
spired account of the baptism itself. This fire was in 
the form " of cloven tongues," and " it sat on them." 
Acts, i. 3. Is not this language as definite as language 
can be ? And does it not exclude the idea of immersion % 

Second. — This baptism with the Holy Ghost is the 
only baptism recorded in the New Testament in 
which terms distinctly modal are used to designate 
the application of the baptizing element. These 
terms are — " came from heaven," "fell on them," 
"poured out " and " shed forth." And here let the 
reader remark : — 

1. The use of modal terms does not occur once 
only, but uniformly throughout the whole account 
given us of this baptism. In the narrative of Luke 
we have — u came from heaven," u fell cw them," 
was "shed forth" and "poured out;"— in Joel's pro- 



118 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

phecy, as quoted by Peter, we have "poured out" 
and a second time "poured out ;" — in the baptism at 
the house of Cornelius, "fell on them," and " was 
poured out /" and in Peter's defence at Jerusalem, 
"fell on them." 

2. These modal terms, whilst all in harmony one 
with the other, are all utterly at variance with the 
modal terms dip and immerse. 

3. As already remarked, this is the only instance 
in which terms distinctly modal are used to describe 
the application of the baptizing element, in the whole 
course of the ISTew Testament. 

Third. — It is not of the Holy Ghost in his spiritual 
essence, nor yet of the spiritual influences of the 
Holy Ghost, that this language is used. That which 
" came from heaven," which " was poured out," was 
"shed forth," which " fell on them " that were bap- 
tized of the Holy Ghost, was simply the sensible sym- 
bol of the Spirit's presence and influences ; it was 
that which stood in the same relation to the spiritual 
essence and influences of the Holy Ghost, which the 
water of baptism now does ; and hence Peter's lan- 
guage — " he hath shed forth this which ye now see 
and hear. 

Dr. Carson's horror at what he is pleased to repre- 
sent as the opinion of his opponents, is a horror at the 
creature of his own imagination. " Our opponents," 



BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIFJE. 119 

writes he, " understand the baptism of the Spirit to 
be a literal pouring out of Him who is immaterial. 
Baptism, whatever be the mode, cannot represent 
either the manner of conveying the spirit, or his 
operations in the soul. These things cannot be re- 
presented by natural things. There is no likeness to 
the Spirit, nor to the modes of his operations. It is 
blasphemy to attempt a representation. It would be 
as easy to make a likeness of God creating the world, 
and attempt to represent, by a picture, the Divine 
operations in the formation of matter, as to repre- 
sent by symbols the manner of the communication 
of the Holy Spirit, and his operations on the soul. If 
Christians were not infatuated with the desire of es- 
tablishing a favorite system, such gross conceptions 
of God could not have so long escaped detection." 1 

To this, we reply — We agree perfectly with Dr. 
Carson, that it is not the spiritual essence " of him 
who is immaterial" which is said to be " poured out" 
to "fall on them," to be " shed forth;" nor is it a re- 
presentation of " the mode of the Spirit's operations " 
which we have in these words. Were it either the one 
or the other, this language would furnish no legitimate 
argument for determining the meaning of the word 
haptizo as used by the Apostles, or of the Apostolic 
mode of baptism. It is just because that of which 

Larson on Baptism, p. 105. 



120 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

such language is used, is the audible and visible 
symbol of the Spirit's presence and influences — that 
which stands in just the same relation to the spiritual 
essence of the Holy Ghost, and to his spiritual influ- 
ences, that water does in Christian baptism — that we 
speak of this baptism as a literal baptism ; and ap- 
peal to this language as a sound and legitimate argu- 
ment, and — in the absence of all other modal lan- 
guage in the Word of God — as an argument of great 
weight, in determining such a question as that before 
us. 

To state the case in brief : — Here is " a baptism with 
the Holy Ghost and with fire." Can we reconcile 
the idea that baptizo " has but one signification — it 
always signifies to dip, never expressing anything 
hut mode" with the use of such expressions, to repre- 
sent the application of the baptizing element, as — it 
"came from heaven" it "sat on them," it a was 
poured out" it " was shed forth" it "fell on them ?" 






USE OF BAPTIZO IN ITS SPIRITUAL SENSE. 121 



CHAPTER Till. 

USE OF laptizo IN ITS SPIRITUAL SENSE. 

§ 25. 1 Cor., xii. 13. § 26. Gal., iii. 2T. § 27. Eph., iv. 5. § 28. Origin of the 

Doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. 

In our definition of the term baptizo, as used in the 
Word of God, in § 13, we remarked, that it was 
sometimes used in a spiritual sense ; to mean regen- 
erate, sanctify. Of this statement, we purpose 
giving proof in the present chapter. 

As instances of a similar use of the analagous 
terms, circumcise, cleanse, purify ; we cite : Deut., 
xxx. 6, " And the Lord thy God will circumcise 
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the 
Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, that thou mayest live." Eph., v. 25, 26, 
" Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself 
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the 
washing of water by the "Word." Acts, xv. 9, 
"And put no difference between us and them, 
purifying their hearts by faith." This use of the 

6 



122 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

terms circumcise, cleanse, purify, renders it proba- 
ble, a priori, that baptize will be used by the sacred 
writers in a similar way. 

§ 25. 1 Cormthicms, XII. 13. 

12. " For as the body is one, and hath many mem- 

bers, and all the members of that one body, 
being many, are one body : so also is Christ. 

13. For by one Spirit, are we all baptized into one 

body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whe- 
ther we be bond or free ; and have been all 
made to drink into one Spirit." 

That the word baptize is here used in a Spiritual 
sense, appears from these considerations, viz. 

1. The baptism is said to be "by one Spirit," or, 
"by the one Spirit," i. e. as all evangelical com- 
mentators agree, by the Holy Spirit — the third 
person in the blessed Trinity. Man administers 
ritual baptism with water ; Christ Jesus baptized 
his Church on the day of Pentecost, with " the Holy 
Ghost and with fire," in visible form. The Holy 
Spirit, in so far as we can learn from Scripture, bap- 
tizes with those spiritual graces which constitute 
regeneration alone. 

2. As a confluence of the baptism here spokeu 



USE OF BAPTIZO IN ITS SPIRITUAL SENSE. 123 

of, or rather, as an expression equivalent to "we 
are all baptized into one body," the Apostle adds, 
" and have all been made to drink into one Spirit ;" 
thus presenting the same idea which he has, a little 
before, dwelt upon in his words. "The cup of 
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion 
of the blood of Christ ? the bread which we break, 
is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? For 
we being many, are one bread and one body." 
(1 Cor., x. 16, 17.) The unity here spoken of, is evi- 
dently the unity of all Christians in Christ ; the 
unity which is symbolized by their communion in the 
Lord's supper. In other words : it is a spiritual 
unity, the result of a spiritual baptism. 

We would paraphrase the verse: "For by the 
one Holy Spirit are we all regenerated into one 
church spiritual, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
whether we be bond or free ; and as we all drink 
of one sacramental cup, so have we, in our regenera- 
tion, all been made to drink into one Spirit. 

§ 26. Galatians, III. 27. 

26. " For ye are all the children of God by faith in 

Christ Jesus. 

27. For as many of you as have been baptized into 

Christ, have put on Christ. 



124: THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 



28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither 

bond nor free, there is neither male nor fe- 
male : for, ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's 

seed, and heirs according to the promise." 

That the baptism here spoken of, is a spiritual, 
and not a ritual, baptism, we infer : 

1. From what is said respecting the result of this 
baptism, in the case of those who have received it, 
viz. they " have put on Christ ; " a phrase uniformly 
used by Paul, to express a spiritual change. Rom., 
xiii. 12, 14, "The night is far spent, the day is at 
hand : let us, therefore, cast off the works of dark- 
ness, and let us put on the armor of light. But put 
ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision 
for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Eph., iv, 
22-24, " That ye put off concerning the former 
conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, accord- 
ing to the deceitful lusts ; and be renewed in the 
spirit of your mind : and that ye put on the new 
man, which after God is created in righteousness 
and true holiness." 

2. From the context. Paul's argument, which 
runs through all this portion of his epistle to the 
Galatians, turns upon the distinction between " the 
letter," and "the spirit," and his design is, to set 






USE OF BAPTIZO IN ITS SPIRITUAL SENSE. 125 

forth the peculiar excellence of the Christian dispen- 
sation, as a spiritual dispensation ; and thus to guard 
the Galatian Christians against that legal spirit with 
which they seemed "bewitched" (iii. 1); and to 
keep them from making their religion consist in the 
" observance of days, and months, and times, and 
years," the " beggarly elements whereunto they 
desired to be again in bondage," (iv. 9, 10). In con- 
trast with such a religion. Paul sets before them a 
religion of faith, such as he affirms that true religion, 
in this world, has ever been. The spiritual sense of 
baptism, in the passage under examination, alone, 
suits such a context. 

We would paraphrase the passage: "For ye are 
all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus ; 
for as many of you as have been regenerated into a 
spiritual union with Christ, have, by that very opera- 
tion, cast off the works of darkness, and put on 
Christ Jesus ; and thus have ye evidently been made 
one with Christ, and through him, have become the 
seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the pro- 
mise, in the true sense of that promise. 



§ 27. JEphesians, IV. 5. 

Ver. 3. "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace. 



126 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are 

called in one hope of your calling ; 

5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism ; 

6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and 

through all, and in you all." 

We would give to the word baptism here, a spirit- 
ual sense : 

1. Because there is an incongruity, amounting almost 
to impiety, in placing a mere external rite in such 
association as baptism is here placed in ; but give to 
the word its spiritual sense, and a beautiful harmony 
is seen in its association. We can understand why 
regeneration should be associated with membership 
in the Church spiritual, (i. e. the " one body, 7 ') the 
Christian's hope, the Holy Ghost, Christ Jesus, and 
God the Father, as constituting "a bond of peace ;" 
but not, why water-baptism should. 

2. Paul is here giving a summary of Christian uni- 
ties. If either sacrament is to be introduced into 
this summary, the Scriptures would lead us to expect 
that it would be the Lord's Supper / one express 
design of which is, to set forth the unity of Christians 
by their communion in " the body and blood " of 
their common Lord (see 1 Cor. x. 16, 17), and not 
the sacrament of Baptism. 

We would paraphrase this passage : " Endeavoring 
to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace. 



USE OF BAPTIZO IN ITS SPIRITUAL SENSE. 127 

There is one body, even the church spiritual, of which 
Christ is the head, and ye are all members ; (see 1 
Cor. xii. 27). and there is one Holy Spirit, by 
whom ye are all effectually called, in one hope of 
your calling ; one Lord, Jesus Christ, one faith in 
Him, by the which ye are all saved, and one regenera- 
tion, by the which ye are made one with Him ; 
one God and Father of all, who is above all, and 
through all, and in you all." 

Other instances of the use of baptizo, in its spirit- 
ual sense, will be given in a subsequent part of this 
work. (See § § 35, 36.) 



§ 28. Origin of the doctrine of baptismal regene- 
ration. 

That the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, pre- 
vailed in the Christian Church at an early day, and 
that there is much in the phraseology of the early 
Christian Fathers which, at first sight, seems to coun- 
tenance this doctrine, are facts well known to every 
one who has studied the history of the Church. 
Many account for this, by saying, that the doctrine 
once adopted, has given rise to this peculiar phrase- 
ology. On the contrary, we believe the phraseology 



128 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

has given rise to the doctrine ; and we believe this 
for two reasons, viz : 

1, We find this phraseology in nse at a very early 
date, and long before we have any sufficient evidence 
that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration had begun 
to prevail in the Church. Indeed, the Romanists, 
and Puseyites, and Campbellites, of our day, in 
common with the earlier advocates of baptismal 
regeneration, derive their most plausible arguments 
from the language of Scripture itself, by giving to 
the term baptism, a ritual, when it is evidently used 
in a spiritual sense ; as in Gal., iii. 27, " For as many 
of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put 
on Christ." 

2. Where a word, such as lapUzo, is used in two 
senses — one spiritual, and the other external and 
material — the tendency of religious formalism is ever 
to substitute the latter sense for the former ; and this, 
for the reason, that a " manipulated religion " suits 
well the pride of the natural heart. Abundant proof 
of this remark, will, at once, suggest itself to every 
student of Ecclesiastical History. 



THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. 129 



CHAPTEE IX. 

ARE WATER- BAPTISMS, IN THEIR NATURE, PURIFICATIONS \ 

% 29. " The Baptism of Repentance." Matt., iii. 7, 8, 11 ; Mark, i. 4 ; Luke, iii. 
7, 8, 12; Luke, vii. 29, 30; Matt., xxi. 25; Mark, xi. 30 ; Acts, i. 22; Acts, xiii. 
24 ; Acts, x. 37 ; Acts, xix. 1-7 ; Acts, xviii. 24-26. § 30. Christ's Baptism by 
John. Matt., iii. 14-17; Mark, i. 9-11; Luke, iii. 21, 22; John, i. 22, 35. § 31. 
Christian Baptism. Acts, ii. 41; Acts, viii. 12-16; Act,s xviii. 8. 

§ 29. " The Baptism of Repentance P 

Matt., iii. 7. "But when he (John) saw many 
of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his 
baptism, he said unto them, O generation of 
vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the 
wrath to come ? 

8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. 

11. "1 indeed baptize you with water unto rejpent- 
cmce, but he that cometh after me is mightier 
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear ; 
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire." 

Mark i. 4. "John did baptize in the wilderness, 

6* 



130 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

and preach the baptism of repentance, for the 
remission of sins." 
Luke, iii .3. "And he (John) come into all the 
country about Jordan, preaching the baptism 
of repentance, for the remission of sins." 

7. " Then said he to the multitude that came forth to 

be baptized of him, ! generation of vipers, 
who hath warned you to fLee from the wrath 
to come ? 

8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repent- 

ance." 
12. " Then came also publicans to be baptized." 
Luke, vii. 29. " And all the people that heard him 

(Jesus), and the Publicans, justified God, 

being baptized with the baptism of John. 
30. But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the 

counsel of God against themselves, being not 

baptized of him." 
Matt., xxi. 25. "The baptism of John, whence was 

it ? from heaven or of men ? " 
Mark, xi. 30; Luke xx. 4. "The baptism of John, 

was it from heaven, or of men ? " 
Acts, i. 22. " Beginning from the baptism of John, 

unto that same day that he was taken up 

from us, must one be ordained to be a witness 

with us of his resurrection." 
Acts, xiii. 24. "When John had first preached 



THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. 131 

before his (Jesus') coming, the baptism of 
repentance to all the people of Israel." 

Acts, x. 37. "That word, I say, ye know, which 
was published through out all Judea, and be 
gan from Galilee, after the baptism which 
John preached." 

Acts, xix. 1. " And it came to pass, that while Apol- 
los was at Corinth, Paul having passed 
through the upper coasts came to Ephesus ; 
and rinding certain disciples, 

2. He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy 

Ghost since ye believed? And they said 
unto him, We have not so much as heard 
whether there be any Holy Ghost. 

3. And he said unto them, Unto what then were 

ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's 

BAPTISM. 

4. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the 

baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, 
that they should believe on him which should 
come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 

5. When they heard this, they were baptized in 

the name of the Lord Jesus. 

6. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, 

the Holy Ghost came on them; and they 
spake with tongues and prophesied. 

7. And all the men were about twelve." 

Acts, xviii. 24. "And a certain Jew, named Apollos. 



132 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and 
mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 

25. This man was instructed in the way of the 

Lord : and being fervent in the spirit, he spake 
and taught diligently the things of the Lord, 
knowing only the baptism of John. 

26. And he began to speak boldly in the syna- 

gogue : whom when Aquila and Priscilla had 
heard, they took him unto them, and ex- 
pounded unto him the way of God more per- 
fectly." 

We have here placed together, all the passages 
of Scripture in which John's baptism is spoken of as 
a baptism of repentance. And along with these, cer- 
tain other passages, calculated to throw light upon 
the import of that phase and the true nature of 
John's baptism. We do not design, in this place, 
to inquire into the mode in which John administer- 
ed his baptism : that subject properly belongs to 
Part II. and is not necessarily involved in the de- 
termination of the meaning of the word baptize-. 
The only questions we shall attempt to answer now, 
are : What was the nature of John's baptism ? and 
what its import ? 

In answer to the first of these questions we re- 
mark : — 



THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. 133 

1. John's baptism was not Christian baptism, nor 
could it serve in the place of Christian baptism. It 
was not Christian baptism inasmuch as it was not 
baptism in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost ;" and it was not an initiatory 
rite into any church. It was not a rite of initiation 
into the Old Testament church, since those who re- 
ceived it, " Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan," were already members 
of that church, in virtue of their circumcision. It was 
not a rite of initiation into the Christian Church, 
since that church had not begun to be established; 
and although many thousands must have received 
John's baptism, yet after our Lord's crucifixion, and 
just before the "day of pentecost," we find the 
Christian Church containing but " about one hundred 
and twenty " members. (Acts, i. 15.) 

That John's baptism was not Christian baptism is 
rendered yet more evident, by the fact that when Paul 
finds certain persons at Ephesus who had received 
John's baptism, he re-baptized them in the name of 
Jesus. The most eminent modern Baptist writers 
all admit the correctness of the views just expressed. 
Some of the older Baptist writers took different 
ground, and in order to maintain their position, con- 
tended that those said to have been baptized by Paul 
at Ephesus, in Acts, xix. 5, were not the persons said 



134: THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

to have been baptized by John, in v. 3. On this, 
Robert Hall, himself a Baptist, remarks : — " In the 
whole compass of theological controversy it would 
be difficult to find a stronger instance than this, of 
the force of prejudice in obscuring a plain matter-of- 
fact." 

2. John's ministry and baptism, according to the 
plain and oft-repeated representations of Scripture, 
belonged to the Old Testament dispensation; and 
were only preparatory to the new. " And he (John) 
shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 
(Luke, i. IT. See also Matt., iii. 3., John, i. 23.) The 
Old Testament dispensation, with all its ceremonies, 
continued until the crucifixion of Christ. Then, and 
not till then, Christ appears " blotting out the hand- 
writing of ordinances that was against us, which 
was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nail- 
ing it to his cross." (Col., ii. 14.) 

Hence, Jesus himself was " circumcised," and 
when the days of his mother's purification were ac- 
complished, according to the law of Moses, he was 
brought to Jerusalem and presented to the Lord. 
(Luke, ii. 21, 22.) Hence, too, when among his first 
miracles he cleanses a leper, he gives the direction — 
" go show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy 
cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a 



THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. 135 

testimony unto them." (Luke v. 14.) To " the mul- 
titude, and to his disciples," Christ gives the gen- 
eral direction : — " The Scribes and Pharisees sit in 
Moses' seat : All, therefore, whatsover they bid you 
observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye after 
their works." (Matt., xxii. 2, 3.) One of his last 
public acts, before his betrayal, was to observe with 
his disciples the Jewish feast of the Passover. 
" Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, 
the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him ; 
Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat 
the passover ? And he said : Go into the city, to 
such a man, and say unto him ; The Master saith, my 
time is at hand, I will keep the passover at thy house 
with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus 
had appointed them, and they made ready the pass- 
over. Now when the even was come, he sat down 
with the twelve." (Matt., xxvi. 17-20.) 

In answer to the other question — "What was the 
import of John's baptism ? we reply : — It was a 
" baptism of ov unto repentance ;" that is, a baptism 
in which the recipient professed repentance (meta 
noia, a change of mind or spirit), and thus placed 
himself in the attitude of an expectant of the coming 
Messiah. In other words, a purification, a separation 
unto God's service, by which " the way of the Lord 
was prepared and his path made straight." Many, 



136 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

doubtless, received the baptism unworthily ; and to 
them it was no blessing. Many, also, received it 
worthily, and by their baptism were prepared for 
the reception of the Messiah. " And all the people 
that heard him (Jesus) and the publicans, justified 
God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But 
the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of 
God against themselves, being not baptized of him." 
In this respect, John's baptism was not unlike the 
purification which Israel underwent in preparation 
for the reception of the Law at Sinai. (See Exod., 
xix. 10, 11.) 

All that has been said respecting John's "baptism 
unto repentance," is true also of the baptism admin- 
istered by Christ's disciples, before their Lord's cru- 
cifixion. The substance of their preaching and that 
of John was the same. " As ye go, preach, saying, 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand /" (Matt., x. 7.) 
"Into whatsoever city ye enter, heal the sick that 
are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand;" (Luke x. 8, 9.) So closely 
were the baptism and the new doctrine connected, 
that the one term is, in Scripture, employed for the 
other. "The baptism of John " (i. e., the new doc- 
trine), "was it from heaven, or of men?" (Matt., 
xxi. 25). "After the baptism" (i. e., the doctrine), 
" which John preached ;" (Acts, x. 37.) 



Christ's baptism by john. 137 

John's baptism, then, was in its essential nature, 
simply a purification. And here, as we shall after- 
wards have occasion to refer to this matter, we ask 
the reader to notice, that baptism, though it be 
administered by divine appointment, be "from 
heaven," is not necessarily an initiatory rite into 
any church. It may be, like the ordinary purifica- 
tions, established by Moses' law, but a setting apart 
of those already in the Church, for some special 
purpose or service of God. Christian baptism is, 
we believe, always an initiatory rite; but this is not 
the case with every rite to which, in Scripture, the 
name of baptism is given, as illustrated in the case 
before us. 

§ 30. Christ's Baptism by John. 

Matt., iii. Yer. 13. "Then cometh Jesus from Gali- 
lee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of 
him. 

14. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to 

be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? 

15. And Jesus answering, said unto him, suffer it to 

be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfill all 
righteousness. 

16. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he 

was baptized, went up straightway out of the 



138 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

water ; and lo, the heavens were opened 
unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God 
descending like a dove, and lighting upon 
him: 

17. And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is 
my beloved Son, in whom 1 am well pleased." 

Mark, i. 9. "And it came to pass in those days, 
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, 
and was baptized of John, in Jordan. 

10. And straightway coming up out of the water, he 

saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like 
a dove, descending upon him. 

11. And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, 

Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well 

pleased." 
Luke, iii. 21. "Now, when all the people were 

baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also 

being baptized, and praying, the Heaven was 

opened. 
22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily 

shape, like a dove, upon him; and a voice 

came from Heaven, which said, Thou art my 

beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased." 
John, i. 32. "And John bear record, saying, I saw 

the Spirit descending from Heaven like a 

dove, and it abode upon him. 
33. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to 



139 



baptize with water, the same said unto me, 
Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend- 
ing and remaining on him, the same is he 
which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." 

What was this baptism which Christ received at 
the hands of John? We do not intend, here, to 
inquire into the mode of this baptism; that subject 
will be examined in another place ; (See § 38). But 
what was this baptism in its nature and import? 

We answer: Certainly not a baptism such as that 
which John administered to others; i. e., "a baptism 
unto repentance." Christ Jesus was "holy, harm- 
less, undeh'led, and separate from sinners," and 
hence, repentance was, for him, not only uncalled 
for, but impossible. On this point, all commenta- 
tors are agreed. 

Christ's baptism was, we think, a purification, in 
the Old Testament sense of that term (i. e., a conse- 
cration), similar to that administered by Moses to 
Aaron and his sons, when setting them apart to the 
priesthood ; (see Lev., viii. 5.) A visible setting 
apart of him, for his public ministry on earth. To 
this conclusion we come : 

1. Because Christ reoeived this baptism, not in 
infancy. When eight days old, he had been cir- 



140 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

cumcised ; (see Luke, ii. 21.) As the promised seed 
of Abraham, come to fulfill God's covenant with 
Abraham, he bore in his flesh the seal of that cove- 
nant ; but this, his baptism, he received when about 
thirty years old ; (see Luke, iii. 23), and when just 
about to enter upon his public ministry. 

2. This view of the matter explains John's objec- 
tion to baptizing Christ — "I have need to be bap- 
tized of thee." Regarding this baptism as a purifi- 
cation, and understanding that Christ, as Messiah, 
possessed a nobler and truer priesthood than his; 
that he (John) stood to him in no higher relation than 
" the friend, to the bridegroom" himself (John, iii. 29) ; 
he would naturally say, " I have need to be baptized 
of thee, and comest thou to me ?" Our Lord's reply 
to John is, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becom- 
eth us to fulfill all righteousness." In his wondrous 
humiliation, "made under the law" (Gal., iv. 4), he 
complied with all the requirements of that law. As 
a priest, he was set apart for his priestly work, as 
was Aaron ; the law,, which he afterwards " nailed to 
his cross," being not yet " taken out of the way." 
(Col., ii. 14.) 

3. Our Lord's baptism by John is immediately 
followed by a more solemn baptism from heaven, 
when the Spirit was seen, " descending like a dove, 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 141 

and remaining on him," and " a voice from heaven" 
declared, " This is my beloved Sod, in whom I am 
well pleased." 



§ 31. Christian Baptism. 

Acts, ii. 41. " Then they that gladly received the 
word were baptized : and the same day there 
were added unto them about three thousand 
souls." 

Acts, viii. 12. "But when they believed Philip, 
preaching the things concerning the kingdom 
of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they 
were baptized, both men and women. 13. Then 
Simon himself believed also ; and when he 
was baptized, he continued with Philip, and 
wondered, beholding the miracles and signs 
which were done. 16. They were baptized in 
the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Acts, xviii. 8. " And Crispus, the chief ruler of the 
synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his 
house ; and many of the Corinthians, hearing, 
believed, and were baptized." 

In a large number of passages of Scripture, of 
which the above-cited are a fair specimen, it is agreed 



142 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

on all hands, that the word baptize is used simply to 
designate the rite of Christian baptism. Now Chris- 
tian baptism is, in its nature, a purification, or conse- 
cration of the person baptized; a visible setting 
apart of that person to God's service. And we refer 
to it here, not for the purpose of discussing its nature 
— that will be done hereafter — but for the purpose 
of remarking that, as all the instances, not already 
examined, in which the words baptize and baptism 
occur in the JSTew Testament, are instances in which 
they are evidently used to signify Christian baptism, 
the Old Testament sense of purify must suit the 
context. 

We have now completed our examination of the 
use of hajptizo in the word of God, in so far as is 
necessary to a fair and proper determination of the 
" translation question." ISTo instance of its use, 
which, in the view of the author, or of any promi- 
nent Baptist writer, could assist us in arriving at a 
correct determination of this question, has been 
omitted. Let us now state, in brief, the results of 
this examination, that we may see what conclusion 
we must come to. 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 143 



SUMMING- UP — CONCLUSION. 

Throwing out of account, for reasons already given, 
(see § IT,) Isaiah, xxi. 4, we have, in the Septuagint 
version of the Old and in the Greek New Testa- 
ment : 

First. A large class of passages — viz., those in 
which John's " baptism of repentance," John's bap- 
tism of Christ, and Christian baptism, are spoken of, 
in all of which (1) baptism is unquestionably a puri- 
fication, in the Old Testament sense of the word 
purify (see § 12), and in which (2) the baptism may 
have been an immersion — to give the Baptist every 
possible advantage, we are willing to say, in as far as 
the matter is involved in " the translation question," 
was an immersion. This class of passages, then, will 
determine nothing respecting the signification of 
baptizo J since, in every one of them, we may give 
to the word either of the meanings, purify or im- 
merse, and meet the demands of the context equally 
well. 

Second. Three passages — viz., those referring to 
Christ's baptism in his death — in which we may give 
to baptizo the sense of overwhelm (but not of dip, or 
immerse, as a synonym of dip), but in which the 



144: THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

Old Testament sense of purify better meets the 
demands of the context. (See § 21.) 

Third. One passage — viz., Kings, v. 14 — in which 
a religious washing, substantially a purification, and 
which washing may have been effected by " dipping 
in Jordan," is called a baptism. (See § 14.) 

Fourth. A passage — viz., John, iii. 25, 26 — in 
which bajptizo is used as a synonym of Jcatharizo 
(purify). And a second passage — viz., John, i. 19-25 
— from which it is evident that John the Baptist and 
the Jews understood these terms as synonymous. 
(See §§ 5, 6.) 

Fifth. A class of passages, in which baptizo is 
used in a spiritual sense ; and this sense the same 
with the spiritual sense, which Scripture use assigns 
to the word purify. (See §§ 25, 26, 27.) 

Sixth. A class of passages — viz., Ecc, xxxiv. 25, 
§ 15 ; Judith, xii. 7, § 16 ; Mach., vii. 4, § 18 ; Luke, 
xi. 38, § 18 ; Heb., ix. 10, § 19 ; Heb., vi. 2, § 20— 
in which baptizo is expressly applied to Mosaic puri- 
fications. 

Seventh. A class of passages — viz., those record- 
ing and referring to the "baptism with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire" — in which, to translate the 
word baptizo, immersed, is to contradict recorded 
fact, in so far as the " baptism with fire " is con- 
cerned ; and in the case of the " baptism with the 



BUMMING UP CONCLUSION. 145 

Holy Ghost ;" to apply to it a modal term, utterly at 
variance with the whole class of modal terms used 
in the Word of God ; and this, in the only case in 
which modal terms are used, with respect to baptism, 
in the whole Bible. (See § 24.) In all this class of 
passages the word purify, in its Old Testament sense, 
meets every demand of the context. 

Eighth. Two passages — viz., 1 Cor., x. 2, §22; 
and 1 Pet., iii. 21, § 23 — in which the translation, 
purify, i. e., separate unto God's service, exactly 
accords with, whilst the translation, immerse, flatly 
contradicts, the plain record of the "Word of God. 

Or we may state the case differently. We have 
affirmed that haptizo, when used in the Word of God 
as a religious term, is used in the Old Testament sense 
of the word purify. Our reasons for limiting the 
question thus are given at large in Chapter I. If 
now, the Baptist can show one single instance in 
which baptizo is used in the Word of God as a reli- 
gious term, in which the context, upon a fair and 
full examination, forbids this sense, our position is 
overthrown. After a careful examination of every 
instance in which baptizo occurs in the Word of God, 
we do not hesitate to express the opinion, that the 
Baptist will search, for one such as he requires, in 
vain. 

On the other hand, the Baptist affirms that baptize 
7 



146 THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. 

" has but one signification — it always signifies to dip, 
never expressing anything but mode." If, now, we 
can show one single instance in which the context, 
upon a full and fair examination, forbids this sense, 
the position of the Baptist is overthrown. Instead 
of one instance only, we give the Baptist his choice 
among the following eight : 

1st. The baptism of Judith. § 16. 

2d. The baptism after touching a dead body. 
§15. 

3d. The diverse baptisms under Moses' law. § 19. 

4th. The baptism of the tables. § 18. 

5th. The baptism with fire. § 24. 

6th. The baptism with the Holy Ghost. § 24. 

7th. The baptism in the cloud and in the sea. § 22. 

8th. The baptism in the ark, by the flood. § 23. 

And we here remark, for the information of those 
not accustomed to the examination of such questions 
as this, that it is but seldom that a meaning for a 
word can be established by so many clear and deci- 
sive instances as these. 

What, then, is the conclusion to which we come ? 
Plainly this — 

1. If we reject our English word baptize — for bap- 
tize has now become truly and properly an English 
word — and attempt to translate the Greek haptizo, 
we should translate it by the word purify, and not 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 147 

the word immerse. At the same time, we remark, 
that the word purify, as used in the Old Testament, 
is used in a sense different from that iu which it is 
used in common conversation and in the English 
classics. The English word baptise, in its common 
acceptation, more nearly expresses the exact idea of 
the Greek baptizo than the English word purify 
would. And on this account, we would greatly pre- 
fer to see our venerable English version stand " as 
of old." 

2. To translate the Greek baptizo, in the Word of 
God, by the English words dip or immerse; or, in 
any other language, by words corresponding to our 
English words dip or immerse, is to mis-translate the 
Word of God. Not simply to make an allowable 
variation in a version of the Bible, but — to mis-trans- 
late the Word of God. 



END OF PART I. 



PART II 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTEE I. 

STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION. 

§ 32. Statement of the question—! 33. Arguments relied on to prove that immer- 
sion is essential to valid baptism. 

§ 32. Statement of the Question, 

Whilst the Baptist and non-Baptist churches agree, 
that in Christian baptism there must be an applica- 
tion of water to the person of the baptized, and that 
this application must be made " in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," 
they differ as to the mode in which this water is to be 
applied. 

The Bwptist holds that there can be no valid bap- 
tism without the immersion of the person baptized. 

The non-Baptist churches, whilst admitting the 

151 



152 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

validity of baptism by immersion, hold that the appli- 
cation of water by sprinkling or pouring constitutes 
a baptism equally valid ; and that to require immer- 
sion, in order to admission to the Church of God, is 
to infringe upon that Christian " liberty wherewith 
Christ hath made his people free," and to " teach for 
doctrine the commandments of men." 

And here, we would ask the reader to notice par- 
ticularly, the real points of difference between the 
parties to this controversy. 

1. It is not as to the validity of a baptism by im- 
mersion. On this point, both parties are agreed. 

2. The difference is simply and solely as to the 
validity of baptism by sprinkling or pouring. 

The question, then, is fairly stated thus : Is immer- 
sion essential to the validity of Christian baptism ? 



§ 33. /Statement of the arguments relied on. 

The arguments by which the Baptist seeks to 
establish his position are derived — 

1. From the meaning of the word ftaptizo. Affirm- 
ing that it is a specific term ; that it has but one sig- 
nification ; it always signifies to dip, never expressing 
anything but mode. He argues, that to speak of 



ARGUMENTS RELIED ON. 153 

baptizing by sprinkling or pouring, is a contradiction 
in terms, and must so have presented itself to the 
mind of every one to whom the command, " repent, 
and be baptized," was addressed in the days of Christ 
and his apostles ; just as we, at the present day, would 
see a contradiction in terms in speaking of immersing 
by sprinkling or pouring. 

2. From the emblematic import of baptism : the 
Baptist affirming that in the ordinance we have an 
emblem, not of spiritual purification alone, but also 
of the spiritual death, burial, and resurrection of the 
person baptized. On these points, Dr. Carson writes : 
"The immersion of the whole body is essential to 
baptism, not because nothing but immersion can be 
an emblem of purification, but because immersion is 
the thing commanded." This he affirms on the 
ground that baptizo " always signifies to dip, never 
expressing anything but mode." " And because that, 
without immersion, there is no emblem of death, 
burial, and resurrection, which are in the emblem 
equally with purification. Had no emblem but that 
of purification been intended in this ordinance, we 
do not say that immersion would be either essential 
or preferable." * 

3. From the practice of Christ and his apostles, 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 381. 

7* 



154: THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

as that practice is to be gathered from the inspired 
narratives of baptisms administered in their day. 

The first of these arguments we have already ex- 
amined in Part I. ; the other two we purpose exam- 
ining in Part II., in the order in which they have 
been mentioned. 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 155 



CHAPTER II. 

SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 

§ 84, Rom. vi. 8, 4; Col. ii. 12. § 35, Rom. vi. 3, 4. § 36, Col. ii. 12. 
§ 37, 1. Cor. xv. 29. 

The passages of Scripture upon which Baptist 
writers rely, as proof that in the rite of Christian 
baptism there was intended to be incorporated an 
" emblem of death, burial and resurrection," are — 
Romans, vi. 3, 4; Colossians, ii. 12; and 1 Corin- 
thians, xv. 29. 

§ 34. Rom. YI. 3. 4 ; Col. II. 12. 

Romans vi. Yer. 1. "What shall we say then? 
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may 
abound ? 

2. God forbid ; how shall we, that are dead to sin, 

live any longer therein? 

3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized 

into Christ, were baptized into his death ? 



156 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

4. Therefore, we are buried with him bv baptism into 

death, that like as Christ was raised up from 
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so 
we also should walk in newness of life. 

5. For if we have been planted together in the like- 

ness of his death, we shall be also in the like- 
ness of his resurrection. 

6. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with 

him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
that henceforth we should not serve sin." 
Colossians, ii. Yer. 10. "And ye are complete in 
him (i. e. Christ), which is the head of all prin- 
cipality and power ; 

11. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circum- 

cision made without hands, in putting off the 
body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumci- 
sion of Christ : 

12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are 

risen with him through the faith of the opera- 
tion of God, who hath raised him from the 
dead." 

In the course of his comments on these two pas- 
sages, Dr. Carson remarks : " I value the evidence of 
these passages so highly that I look on them as per- 
fectly decisive. They contain God's own explanation 
of his own ordinance. And in this I call upon my 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 157 

unlearned brethren to admire the Divine wisdom. 
They do not understand the original, and the adop- 
tion of the words baptize and baptism can teach 
them nothing. Translators, by adopting the Greek 
words, have contrived to hide the meaning from the 
unlearned. The Spirit of God has, by this explana- 
tion, enabled them to judge for themselves in this 
matter. While the learned are fighting about baptizo 
and certain Greek prepositions, let the unlearned turn 
to Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12." I In attaching so 
great importance to these passages, Dr. Carson does 
not differ from other Baptist writers; and these 
passages are those from which the necessity of im- 
mersion is most frequently argued from the pulpit. 
On this account we shall examine them with greater 
care, and at greater length, than would otherwise 
seem necessary. 

We have placed the two together at the head of 
this section, because the Baptist argument from both 
is substantially the same. After examining this ar- 
gument, we shall make such comments upon the 
passages, separately, as will serve to set before the 
reader what we consider the true import of them. 

The Baptist argument for immersion, from Rom. 
vi. 3, 4, and Col. ii. 12, may be stated in brief, 
thus : — 

1 Carson on Baptism, pp. 144, 145. 



158 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 






1. The baptism here spoken of is ritual baptism, 
or baptism with water. 

2. Paul treats it as a universally acknowledged 
fact, and therefore, one from which he may reason in 
Settling a controverted point of doctrine, that in the 
rite of baptism there is symbolized the spiritual 
death, burial and resurrection of the believer. 1 

3. Hence the inference is drawn, that as immer- 
sion is the mode in which baptism with water most 
aptly represents a death, burial and resurrection, 
these passages teach us that immersion is the divine- 
ly-appointed mode of baptism. 

1 Baptist writers, when treating of the death, burial and resurrection 
symbolized in baptism, often make use of language so equivocal as to 
leave the reader in doubt whether they mean a spiritual death, burial 
and resurrection, or the death, burial and resurrection of the body of 
the believer. In Rom. vi. 3, 4, the death and resurrection are un- 
doubtedly spiritual; since the death is expressly declared to be, a 
death " unto sin" that we " should live no longer therein," and the 
resurrection, a resurrection " to walk in newness of life ;" not here- 
after, in heaven, but here, upon earth. So Dr. Carson regards it. 
Hence he writes — " Here we see that baptism is an emblem also of 
the new life of the Christian. He dies with Christ to sin, he rises 
with him to a new life of holiness." (Carson on Baptism, p. 143.) 
To confound the two — i. e. natural and spiritual death, burial and re- 
surrections, is to be imposed upon by the mere sound of words, to fall 
into the same sort of error Avhich Nicodemus did with respect to 
the phrase " Ye must be born again," when he asked " Can a man 
enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born ?" 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 159 

Admitting, for the present, that we may give these 
passages a more thorough examination, that the 
baptism here spoken of is ritual baptism, as the Bap- 
tist contends ; we remark — 

First. It is the common faith of all evangelical 
Christian churches, that water-baptism symbolizes 
regeneration, or that spiritual change of which our 
Lord speaks, when he says to ISTicodemus, " Except 
a man be horn again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." (John, iii. 3.) Thus the Presbyterian Con- 
fession of Faith teaches, that in baptism there is 
symbolized, not only " the remission of sins," but 
also our " ingrafting into Christ," and " our giving 
up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in new- 
ness of life," (chap, xxviii.) ; i. e., there is symbolized 
regeneration, in the full Scriptural sense of that 
term. 

"What, now, we ask, is the meaning of the phrase, 
" the spiritual death, burial, and resurrection of the 
believer," his " death unto sin," his resurrection to 
" walk in newness of life ?" Nothing more nor less 
than simply regeneration. When, then, the Baptist 
expositor of these passages says, Water-baptism has 
a two-fold import ; viz., 1st, symbolizing regenera- 
tion in the washing with water ; and 2d, symboliz- 
ing the spiritual death, burial, and resurrection of 
the believer, in the immersion of the person baptized, 



160 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

he is imposed upon by the mere sound of words. 
His two things are but one and the same thing. 

Second. Where spiritual things are to be symbol- 
ized by material things, the choice of a symbol cannot 
be based upon any proper similitude between the 
two ; for, as Dr. Carson remarks, when discussing the 
" baptism with the Holy Ghost," " There is no like- 
ness to the Spirit, nor to the mode of his operations. 
It is blasphemy to attempt a representation. It would 
be as easy to make a likeness of God creating the 
world, and attempt to represent by a picture the 
Divine operations in the formation of matter, as to 
represent by symbol the manner of the communica- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, and his operations on the 
soul." 1 In all such cases, the choice of a symbol 
must be based upon some one of the several analo- 
gies which exist between the material symbol and the 
immaterial thing symbolized. 

In the case under consideration, several of these 
analogies have been incorporated in the figurative 
language of Scripture. Thus, the sacred writers 
speak of regeneration as the substitution of a heart of 
flesh for a heart of stone: "I will take away the 
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a 
heart of flesh." (Ezek., xxxvi. 26.) As the taking 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 105. 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 161 

of a stone out of the earth and building it into a 
habitation: "In whom also ye are builded together, 
for a habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. 
ii. 22.) As the ingrafting of a limb into a body : 
" I am the vine, ye are the branches ; he that abideth 
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit." (John, xv. 5.) As the putting off of filthy 
garments and the putting on of clean : " Put off, 
concerning the former conversation, the old man, 
and put on the new man, which after God is created 
in righteousness and true holiness." (Eph., iv. 22, 24.) 
As a death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, in 
the passages under examination. As the application 
of a cleansing element to the body : " Then will I 
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean." 
(Ezek., xxxvi. 25.) These, and many more such 
analogies, are found incorporated in the figurative 
language of Scripture. 

The choice of a symbol for regeneration may, in 
the first instance, be based upon any one of these 
analogies ; and when that choice is once made, the 
symbol will represent the thing symbolized, no mat- 
ter by what figurative language you may choose to 
designate it. To introduce a new symbol, or to 
incorporate a new element in the symbol, for each 
one of the analogies found embodied in the figurative 
language of Scripture, on the ground that these 



162 THE MODE OP BAPTISM. 

t 

figures, although equivalent, are not one and the 
same — as by making the application of the purifying 
element, water, emblematic of regeneration, and 
immersion in water emblematic of spiritual death, 
burial, and resurrection, which is neither more nor 
less than regeneration — is like insisting upon the 
payment of a debt, once paid in gold, a second time 
in silver ; because, whilst gold and silver are equiva- 
lent in value, they are not one and the same sub- 
stance. 

God has chosen to base his selection of a symbol 
for regeneration, upon the purifying effect of water 
applied to the body, an analogy familiar to the minds 
of those among whom Christian baptism was first 
administered, through their observance of Moses' 
law ; and now, the choice being made, the applica- 
tion of water to the body symbolizes regeneration, 
by whatever figurative language we may choose to 
designate it. 

Is, now, the question asked, Does not baptism 
symbolize the spiritual death, burial, and resurrection 
of the believer ? we answer, Yes. And for the same 
reason, would we answer the questions, Does not 
baptism symbolize the putting off of the old man, 
and the putting on of the new? Yes. Does not 
baptism symbolize the ingrafting of a believer into 
Christ, as a branch into a vine? Yes. Does not 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 163 

baptism symbolize the taking away of the stony 
heart out of our flesh, and the giving instead thereof 
a heart of flesh ? Yes. Does not baptism symbolize 
the cleansing of the soul from the guilt and pollution 
of sin ? Yes. Baptism symbolizes them one and all ; 
and this for the simple and sufficient reason, that they 
are all one and the same thing — viz. the spiritual 
change which Christ calls regeneration, a being born 
again. 

Is the further question asked, Do not the Scrip- 
tures teach that the analogy between " death, 
burial, and resurrection" and regeneration was in- 
tended to be incorporated in the symbol, baptism, in 
saying, " We are buried with him by baptism into 
death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead 
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
walk in newness of life ?" we answer, No more than 
they teach that the analogy between the ingrafting 
of a branch into a vine and regeneration was intended 
to be incorporated in it, in saying, " For by one 
Spirit are we all baptized into one body." (1 Cor. 
xii. 13.) Or, that the analogy between the putting 
off of filthy garments, and the putting on of clean, 
and regeneration, was intended to be incorporated in 
it, in saying, "For as many of you as have been 
baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Gal. 
iii. 27.) 



164: THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

In fact, one of the earliest departures from the 
simplicity of this rite, as administered by the Apos- 
tles, was the removal of the old garments from the 
person to be baptized, and the clothing of him in a 
clean white robe after baptism. Gal. iii. 27, was 
pleaded as authority for this practice, and the argu- 
ment from the sacred text was of just the same kind 
as that by which the Baptist proves immersion from 
Rom. vi. 3, 4 ; Col. ii. 12, at the present day. 

Admitting, then, that the baptism spoken of in the 
passages .under examination is ritual baptism, they 
do not teach immersion ; and every reason for sup- 
posing that they do is based upon a misapprehension 
on one or other of two points — viz. 1. That the spi- 
ritual death, burial, and resurrection of the believer 
is something different from his regeneration ; whereas, 
they are but one and the same thing. Or, 2, That a 
material symbol of a spiritual thing, must embody, 
as distinct elements, all the analogies existing be- 
tween that material symbol and the immaterial thing 
symbolized. 

Thus far, we have taken it for granted that the 
baptism here spoken of is ritual baptism, or baptism 
with water. "We now raise a question on this point ; 
and express our belief that Paul here uses the term 
baptism in its spiritual sense, i. e. in the sense of 
regeneration ; and, of course, that there is no refer- 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 165 

ence to the mode of baptism intended. From this 
point, we must conduct our examination of Rom. vi. 
3, 4, and Col., ii. 12, separately. 



§ 35. Romans, VI. 3, 4. 

In this passage, the spiritual sense of baptism 
seems to be demanded, both by the peculiar form of 
the expression Paul uses, and by the course of his 
argument. 

First. Paul here uses the peculiar form of ex- 
pression " baptized into Christ," and not the more 
common form " baptized in the name of Christ." Let 
the reader attempt to picture to his mind, as a rite to 
be administered, a baptism in the name of Christ, 
and he will find no difficulty in the work. It is just 
a rite consisting in the application of water to the 
person of the baptized, which act, the baptizer declares 
to be done in the name of Christ. But let him now 
make a similar attempt with " a baptism into Christ," 
and he will see that this phrase can appropriately 
belong to a spiritual act only. 

This distinction in the use of these forms of expres- 
sion, appropriate in itself, is uniformly observed by 
the sacred writers. The form " baptized into Christ," 
is never used where ritual baptism is intended; the 



166 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

form "baptized m the name of Christ," is never used 
but when ritual baptism is intended. 

As illustrating the use of the latter form, we cite 
Matt, xxviii. 19. "Go ye therefore, and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Acts, ii. 38. 
"Then Peter said unto them, Kepent, and be bap- 
tized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, 
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts, xix. 5. "And he 
commanded them to be bapttzed in the name of 
the Lord Jesus." In all these instances, the context 
determines that the baptism spoken of is the external 
rite. 

As illustrating the use of the other form, we cite 
Gal. iii. 27. " For as many of you as have been bap- 
tized into Christ, have put on Christ." 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body." 2 Cor. x. 2. "And were all baptized unto 
(or into) Moses, in the cloud and in the sea." These 
passages, with the one we are examining, are all the 
passages in the New Testament, in which this 
peculiar form of expression occurs. In the case of 
the two first quoted, we have already shown that 
the baptism spoken of is a spiritual baptism. (See 
§§ 25, 26.) In the case of the third, the baptism 
"unto, or into Moses," ritual baptism is not in- 



SYMBOLIC LMPOET OF BAPTISM. 167 

tended; but in accordance with a common Scrip- 
tural usage, the name of the antetype is thrown 
back upon the type ; Paul meaning by the baptism 
of Israel into Moses, simply, their separation unto 
God's service, in union with Moses. (See § 22.) 

These instances of the use of these two forms of 
expression, baptized into, and baptized in the name 
of, go to establish the usus loquendi of the sacred 
writers, in their application of them ; and require us 
to understand Paul, when he writes "Know ye not 
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ," 
(Pom. vi. 3,) as speaking, not of a ritual, but of a 
spiritual baptism. 

Second. The course of Paul's argument here, de- 
mands the spiritual sense of baptism, in this passage. 
He is answering the objection of a caviller, to 
the doctrine which forms the grand subject of his 
epistle to the Pomans — the doctrine of justification 
by faith, without the deeds of the law. This objec- 
tion he first states in ver. 1. " Shall we continue in 
sin, that grace may abound?" — just the grand objec- 
tion made to this doctrine by the caviller, in every age 
and in every country, that it tends to immorality. In 
ver. 2, Paul indignantly repels the inference which 
constitutes the objection ; " God forbid," his usual form 
of expression at once of denial and of abhorrence, 
"How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer 



168 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

therein?" And here, in the figurative expression, 
"dead to sin," a very common expression with Paul 
(See Kom. vii. 4; 2 Cor. v. 14; Eph. ii. 1 ; Col. iii. 3), 
is the fountain from which springs the phraseology 
running through vers. 3, 4, in which verses he pro- 
ceeds to answer the object more at large. 

Let us now ask the question ; what is the answer, 
which the Scriptures teach us to make to this objec- 
tion — that the doctrine of gratuitous justification 
tends to immorality? Is it not this? That in 
God's scheme of salvation, justification, and sanctifi- 
cation (using that term in its widest sense, as in- 
cluding regeneration) are inseparably connected. 
They are both acts of a sovereign God; and in the 
exercise of his sovereignty, God never pardons a sin- 
ner, without working in that sinner a death unto sin, 
that he may live unto God. This is just the answer 
which Baptist expositors, in common with ourselves, 
understand the Apostle to be giving expression to in 
vers. 3, 4; but with this difference: Baptist exposi- 
tors understand Paul here to declare, that Christians 
have professed to receive this as true, whilst we 
understand Paul here to assert its truth'; and con- 
sidering that he is here answering the objection of a 
caviller, there is all the difference between these 
two, in so far as argument is concerned, that there is 
between sl profession and &fact. 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 169 

To make tins matter plain, let us paraphrase this 
passage, in accordance with these different views of 
its interpretation. 

1. Know ye (i. e. ye cavillers, who say, let ns 
"continue in sin that grace may abound,") not, that 
so many of us as were baptized into Christ, were 
baptized in a mode which represented in emblem 
our spiritual death with him? We have professed, 
in receiving such a baptism, that we were spiritually 
buried with him, and also our belief that like as 
Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of 
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness 
of life. 

2. Know ye (i. e. ye cavillers) not, that so many of 
us as have been regenerated into a spiritual union with 
Christ, have been regenerated into union with one 
dead to the world? Therefore, being regenerated 
into union with him in this his death, our death is 
complete; we are buried with him in the regenera- 
tion. (For the use of even stronger language than 
the word buried, to express the idea of death com- 
pleted, see Ezek. vii. 3, 12; Gal. vi. 12; Col. iii. 3.) 
And we thus die, that the same glorious God who 
raised up Christ from the dead, may raise us up also, 
to walk in newness of life. 

Third. The immediate context demands the spir- 
itual sense of baptism here. The resurrection of the 

8 



170 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

believer, here spoken of, is one, the consequence of 
which is that he shall " walk in newness of life:" — 
not hereafter in heaven; but here, at this present 
time, upon earth. The resurrection, then, is a spir- 
itual resurrection. The death of which Paul speaks 
is styled in verse 2, a " death to sin ;" i. e. a spir- 
itual death. The burial is a burial " into this death ;" 
verse 3. A burial into a spiritual death must be a 
spiritual burial. If, then, the death, burial, and re- 
surrection, here spoken of, are spiritual, is it a forced 
interpretation, which would make the baptism which 
they constituted ("buried ~by baptism") a spiritual 
baptism ? Is it not, rather, a forced interpretation, 
which would make it anything else than a spiritual 
baptism ? 

§ 36. Colossians, II. 12. 

The phrase, "ye are risen with him through the 
faith of the operation of God," is sometimes spoken 
of as if the " operation," here mentioned, were bap- 
tism. Perhaps there is something equivocal in our 
English translation: — In the original Greek, how- 
ever, it is not so. Doddridge translates the phrase : 
" Ye were raised with him, by belief in the energy 
of God, who raised him from the dead." McKnight 
translates it: "Ye have been raised with him 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 171 

through the belief of the strong-working of God, 
who raised him from the dead." Both of these 
translations are more literal than that of our com- 
mon version, and they both bring out the sense in 
which "the operation of God" is to be understood. 

The spiritual sense of the word baptism, in this 
passage, is demanded : — 

First. By the immediate context. (1.) Paul says 
of the believer's resurrection in baptism, it is " by 
belief in the energy, or strong-working of God," a 
resurrection by faith, i. e. a spiritual resurrection; 
and not a resurrection out of the water, by the 
strength of the one administering the baptism. 
"Buried with him in baptism, wherein" i. e. in 
your baptism, "also ye are risen again by faith in 
the energy of God." If the resurrection is spiritual 
so must the burial be also, since both the resur- 
rection and burial belong to, and, in fact, consti- 
tute one baptism; and the baptism, constituted as 
it is, of a spiritual burial and spiritual resurrection, 
must be a spiritual baptism, i. e. regeneration. (2.) 
Paul is here evidently using the understood nature 
of the older rite, circumcision, to illustrate the 
nature of baptism ; and to mark this the more dis- 
tinctly, he calls baptism " the circumcision of Christ," 
or Christian circumcision. Now, the circumcision 
of which Paul speaks, he declares expressly, is a 



172 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

circumcision made without hands, in putting off 
the body of the sins of the flesh," i. e. a spiritual 
circumcision. We can understand how spiritual 
circumcision, as understood by those to whom Paul 
addresses himself, shall illustrate the nature of a 
spiritual baptism, but not of water baptism. 

Second. By Paul's train of thought and reasoning 
running throughout this chapter. He is warning 
the Colossians against the danger of substituting 
formalism for spirituality in religion. "Beware," 
writes he, "lest any man spoil you, through phi- 
losophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, 
after the rudiments of this world," (verse 8 ;) which 
he afterwards more fully explains in his words: 
"Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in 
drink, or in respect to a holy-day, or of the new 
moon, or of the Sabbath day. Let no man beguile 
you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and 
worshipping of angels," (verses 16, 18.) A striking 
specification, this, of the developments of formal- 
ism, as they presented themselves in the Jewish 
Church in Paul's day, and as they have appeared in 
" the great apostasy " since. 

What reasons does Paul urge why Christians 
should not give such attention, as some of their 
Judaizing members contended for, even to some 
things lawful and proper in themselves and in their 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 173 

own place? Among others, this: "They were com- 
plete in Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of 
the Godhead bodily," (verse 9.) And this is just the 
point on which he is enlarging in the passage under 
examination. "In whom (i.e. in Christ), also, ye 
are circumcised with the circumcision made without 
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh 
by the circumcision of Christ : hurled with him in 
baptism/ (i. e. completely dead with him in your 
regeneration), wherein, also, ye are risen with him, 
through faith in the energy of God, who hath raised 
him from the dead." Thus interpreted, verse 12 falls 
in with the spirit of verse 11, both of them being 
expository of Paul's meaning in saying that be- 
lievers are " complete in Christ." 



§ 37. 1 Corinthians, XV. 29. 

" Else what shall they do, which are baptized for 
the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they, 
then, baptized for the dead ?" 

Dr. Carson's comment on this passage is : " There 
must be an argument here, and this object of bap- 
tism must be a Scriptural object, otherwise it could 
not be an argument. Indeed, though to us the pas- 
sage may be difficult, from difference of circum- 



174 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

stances with respect to those immediately addressed, 
yet it is evident that the Apostle considered the 
argument as very obvious and convincing. JSTow, 
to consider the expression to be a reference to the 
mode and import of baptism, as implying an emblem 
of the resurrection of believers, will afford a natural 
meaning to the words, and an important argument 
to the Apostle. Baptism is an ordinance that repre- 
sents our burial and resurrection with Christ. We 
are baptized, in the hope that our dead bodies shall 
rise from the grave. JSTow, if there is no resurrec- 
tion, why are we baptized? On that supposition 
there is no meaning in baptism. It is absurd for 
any to be baptized, baptism being a figure of a resur- 
rection, if they do not believe in a resurrection." 

On this exposition, we remark: 

1. It seems unaccountable to us, if the resurrec- 
tion of the dead was so clearly figured forth in bap- 
tism, in the believer's "rising from his watery 
grave," as the Baptist contends for, that serious 
doubts respecting the reality of a resurrection 
should ever have arisen in the Church at Corinth. 
And yet, that the doctrine of a resurrection had 
been called in question, and even rejected by some, 
is evident from the lengthened proof of that doctrine 
which Paul gives in the context. If immersion 
were the mode of baptism practised at Corinth, and 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 175 

by divine appointment, the rising of the person 
immersed out of the water, was universally under- 
stood to be an emblem of the believer's resurrection 
from the grave; and this so unquestionably true, 
that Paul could appeal to it as a decisive argument 
in establishing the fact of a resurrection ; we cannot 
understand how it is possible the Corinthians could 
ever have rejected that doctrine. 

2. Dr. Carson's interpretation 1 requires us to read, 
"Else what shall they do, which are baptized in the 
hope of a resurrection of the dead" instead of " bap- 
tized for the dead" as Paul has written it — i. e. to 
interpolate "the hope of the resurrection," a phrase 
which may entirely change the meaning of the text. 
Such interpolations should never be made, unless 
there be unquestionable intimation in the context, 
that such word or phrase is intended to be supplied; 
and no such intimation is given here. By throwing 
in a word or phrase here and there, on the same 
principles upon which Dr. Carson interpolates the 
passage under examination, it will be a very easy 
matter to make the word of God teach anything 
which the expositor chooses. 

3. If the Scriptures teach that in baptism we have 
symbolized "the resurrection from the dead," of the 
believer, they teach that truth in this passage only. 

1 Carson on Baptism, pp. 163, 164. 



176 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

The believer's resurrection spoken of in Rom. vi. 5, 
is undoubtedly a spiritual resurrection, i. e. a resur- 
rection only in figure; since it is expressly declared 
to be a resurrection "to walk in newness of life." 
So also the resurrection spoken of in Col. ii. 12, 
where the resurrection is said to be a resurrection 
"through faith." 

Respecting the true interpretation of this passage, 
there has been great difference of opinion among 
our ablest commentators; and this, because of the 
obscurity of the phrase "baptized for the dead." 
The exposition which on the whole we prefer, is that 
which makes this phrase refer directly to Christ 
Jesus, here called "the dead," on the supposition 
made in ver. 16, that he is not risen from the dead. 
Paul's argument then, would be a proof of the 
believer's resurrection, from the resurrection of 
Christ. 

1. This interpretation suits the course of Paul's 
argument in the context. This chapter opens with 
the proof of the resurrection of Christ, that he was 
seen after his resurrection by the twelve, by five 
hundred brethren, the greater part of whom were 
then living, and by Paul himself. (Vers. 4-8.) 

Then, from the resurrection of Christ thus esta- 
blished, he undertakes the refutation of the danger- 
ous error taught by some in Corinth, that there was 



SYMBOLIC IMPORT OF BATTISM. 177 

no resurrection of the dead. Vers. 12-16. Pointing 
to the connection existing between Christ and the 
believer, such as that between the first fruits and 
the harvest, ver. 20, and similar to that between 
Adam and his descendants, vers. 21, 22, Paul argues 
that the condition of the one is determined by that 
of the other; and hence, concludes that "if there be 
no resurrection of the dead" believer, "then Christ 
is not raised." Ver. 16. Adopting, for argument's 
sake, the supposition that " Christ is not raised," he 
shows the consequences which must follow: 1. "Your 
faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins," i. e. your 
faith is in a dead person, who cannot help you. 
Yer. 17. 2. "Having hope in Christ, in this life 
only, we are of all men most miserable." Yer. 19. 
3. It is folly to be baptized for a dead one, as Christ 
is on this supposition; "Else what shall they do, 
which are baptized for" (i. e. separated unto the 
service of) "the dead, if the dead rise not at all? 
Why are they then baptized for the dead?" Yer. 29. 
Considering from ver. 24: to ver. 29 a parenthesis, 
and such it evidently is, ver. 28 will follow immedi- 
ately the other statements of difficulty, under which 
the supposition that " Christ is not raised," in Paul's 
view, labors. And then Paul goes on to answer 
certain objections to the doctrine of the resurrection, 



178 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

and to state that doctrine at large throughout the 
remainder of the chapter. 

2. In the original, the word translated "the dead," 
is in the plural form. "In Greek the plural form is 
often used where only an individual or a particular 
thing is meant." (See Stuart's £T. T. Grammar, 
p. 149.) And grammarians notice, what they call 
"the plural of dignity," i. e. the plural form used to 
indicate dignity in the person spoken of. This plu- 
ral of dignity in "the dead," if we understand 
Christ Jesus to be "the dead" one intended, is just 
in place here. This peculiarity, then, in the origi- 
nal, when we call to mind the idiom of the Greek, 
affords strong confirmation of the correctness of this 
interpretation. 

We would paraphrase the passage: On the sup- 
position that Christ is not risen — is yet dead, what 
shall they do who are baptized for this dead one? 
If the dead rise not at all, why are we then baptized 
for the dead, as we all have been when "baptized in 
the name of Jesus?" 



179 



CHAPTER III. 

§ 8S. John's Baptisms in Jordan. Matt. iii. 1-16 ; Mark, i. 4-10 ; Luke, iii. 8, 21 ; 
John, i. 28, x. 40. § 39. John's Baptisms at ^nos. John, iii. 23. § 40. The Bap- 
tism of the Eunuch. Acts, viii. 36-39. 

§ 38. John's Baptisms in Jordan. 

Matt. III. 

Ver. 1. "In those days came John the Baptist, 
preaching in the wilderness of Judea." 

5. "Then went out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea, 

and all the region round about Jordan, 

6. And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing 

their sins." 
13. "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto 

John, to be baptized of him." 
16. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up 

straightway out of the water." 

MarJc, I. 

Ver. 4. "John did baptize in the wilderness, and 
preach the baptism of repentance, for the 
remission of sins. 



180 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

5. And there went out unto him all the land of 
Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were bap- 
tized of him in the river Jordan, confessing 
their sins." 

9. "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus 

came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was bap- 
tized of John, in Jordan. 

10. And straightway coming up out of the water, he 

saw the heavens opened." 



XuTce, III. 

Ver. 3. "And he" (John), "came into all the coun- 
try about Jordan, preaching the baptism of 
repentance, for the remission of sins." 

21. "Now, when all the people were baptized, it 
came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, 
and praying, the Heaven was opened." 



John, I. 28, X. 40. 

"These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jor- 
dan, where John was baptizing." "And 
he," (Jesus), "went away again beyond Jor- 
dan, into the place where John first bap- 



181 



That these baptisms of John were baptisms by 
immersion, is thought by Baptist writers to be 
fairly inferable : 1. From the phraseology of the 
sacred text, "in Jordan," "in the river Jordan," 
and more especially, "he went itp out of the water." 
And 2. From the fact that they were performed in 
a river. 

First. Respecting the phraseology used by the 
Evangelists, we ask: Supposing that John and 
Jesus, in the baptism of the latter, had together 
entered the water to such a depth that John, by 
reaching down his hand, could conveniently obtain 
the water needed to baptize him by aspersion, 
would not precisely the same phraseology have been 
used in recording the baptism? — "in Jordan," "in 
the river Jordan," and "he went up straightway out 
of the water." 

That this was indeed the way in which Jesus was 
baptized by John is, we think, rendered more than 
probable by several considerations. 

1. With the dress of the people of Judea, such a 
baptism would be altogether natural. The princi- 
pal articles of dress worn by the common people 
were, a loose coat or toga, reaching down a little 
below the knee, and bound to the body by a girdle, 
and wooden sandals. Such a dress was that worn 
by John at the time of these baptisms. " And the 



182 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a 
leathern girdle about his loins." (Matt. iii. 4.) If 
baptism were to be administered in a warm country 
like Judea, and where such was the dress of all par- 
ties, and where it was not customary for the people 
to carry drinking vessels of any kind with them (in 
the army of Gideon, containing at the time ten 
thousand men, there was not a single drinking ves- 
sel found. See Judges, vii. 5, 6,) in which water 
could conveniently be brought; what more natural 
than that a baptism hy aspersion should be adminis- 
tered in the way we have supposed. 

2. To drink by raising water in the hand to the 
mouth, in the same way in which we have supposed 
John, to have raised the water for baptizing Jesus, is 
a very common custom in Eastern countries now, 
and has been so from a very early date, as is evident 
from the way in which God directs Gideon to select 
those who are to accompany him against the Midi- 
anites. See Judges, vii. 5, 6. The true explana- 
tion of the phrase " every one that lappeth of the 
water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth," undoubt- 
edly is that these men, instead of kneeling down to 
take a long draught, or successive draughts, from 
the water, employed their hand as the dog employs 
his tongue ; that is, forming it into a hollow spoon, 
and dipping water with it from the stream. This 



183 



mode of drinking is often practised in the East, and 
practice alone can give that peculiar tact which 
generally excites the wonder of travellers. The 
interchange of the hand between the water and the 
mouth is managed with amazing dexterity, and with 
nearly or quite as much rapidity as the tongue of 
the dog in the same act. The water is not sucked 
out of the hand, but by a peculiar jerk is thrown 
into the mouth before the hand is brought close to 
it; so that the hand is approaching with a fresh 
supply almost before the first has been swallowed. 
This explanation will serve to show how the distinc- 
tion operated, and why those who 'lapped, putting 
their hands to their mouths,' were considered to 
evince an alacrity and readiness for action, which 
peculiarly fitted them for the service in which 
Gideon was engaged." (Bush's Notes. Judges, vii. 5.) 
3. As remarked in § 10, the oriental method of 
bathing, whether performed in a river or in a bath, 
is not by immersing the body in water, but by 
having the water thrown upon the body by an 
attendant, as all travellers tell us. And such, we 
have reason to believe, has been the custom prevail- 
ing for ages: 1. Because the oriental nations are 
remarkable for seldom or never changing a custom ; 
and, 2. Because the Scriptural accounts of bathings 
performed in ancient days contain hints, at the least, 



184: THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

of these bathings being performed in this way. 
Pharaoh's daughter, when she went "to wash her- 
self at the river," was accompanied by her maidens. 
(See Ex. ii. 5.) Judith, when she washed herself in 
the valley of Bethulia, was accompanied by her 
maid. (See Judith, xiii. 10.) And in the sixth 
chapter of Tobit, we have an account of a young 
man washing himself in a river, where the word 
per i-klusasth&i, to throw up the water as in waves 
around his body, is used to describe his washing. 
(Tobit, vi. 2.) 

In interpreting such a narrative as that given us 
in the Gospels, of John's baptisms, we must be 
guided by the customs of the country in which the 
transaction narrated occurred, and not by the cus- 
toms of some other country: and, in view of these 
facts just stated, we affirm that all we can learn of 
the customs prevalent in Judea at the time John 
baptized in Jordan, favors the idea of baptism by 
aspersion in the manner we have supposed, and is 
adverse to the idea of baptism by immersion. 

4. All the most ancient pictorial representations of 
the baptism of Christ in Jordan, and some of them 
are of great antiquity, represent the baptism as per- 
formed in the way we have supposed. The evi- 
dence, in questions respecting ancient manners and 
customs, afforded by contemporary pictures, is, on 



185 



all hands, considered the most reliable which can be 
obtained. The pictures which have been discovered 
in the ancient tombs of Egypt have shut the mouth 
of many an infidel caviller at Moses' history ; and 
did the pictures of John's baptism of Jesus date back 
to the days of Christ, they would be absolutely deci- 
sive of the question. They cannot, however, claim so 
great antiquity as this. From the peculiar circum- 
stances attendant upon the early spread of Christian- 
ity, and more especially the persecutions which it en- 
countered, if there were any such pictorial representa- 
tions then made they have not come down to us. 
Still, there are some very ancient engraved plates and 
mosaics depicting the scene (for this was a favorite 
subject of early Christian art), and more recently, 
pictorial representations have been discovered in the 
catacombs of Rome, which, probably, date back to 
the time of the primitive persecutions, and these all 
agree in representing the baptism of Jesus in Jordan 
as performed by aspersion, and in the way we have 
supposed. 1 

Now, we do not think that the evidence of these 
pictorial representations absolutely decides this mat- 
ter, as it would if they were contemporary represen- 
tations. But this, we do think, must in all fairness 
be allowed, that when the language of the record 

1 For copies of two of these, see frontispiece. 



186 TEE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

will suit either method, equally well, this evidence 
should come in to determine our choice between 
the two, considered as a choice between probabilities. 

Second. — The fact that these baptisms by John 
were performed in a river, is thought, by Baptist 
writers, to furnish proof that they were performed by 
immersion. "What could take him," i. e. Jesus, 
" into the river at all if he was only to be sprinkled ? 
w r hat could take him to the edge of the water ? what 
could take him to the river? No rational answer 
can ever be given to this on the ground that sprink- 
ling a few drops of water is baptism." 1 So w r rites 
Dr. Carson. Let us see if the Scriptures will give us 
any answer to these questions. 

1. John was preaching in " a wilderness" (Matt. 
iii. 1), and this wilderness extended down to the very 
bank of the Jordan, for thus only can we explain the 
language of Mark, " John did baptize in the wilder- 
ness." (Mark, i. 4.) A wilderness, or desert country, 
would not contain either wells or springs of 
water. If, then, baptism is to be administered, even 
by aspersion, to the multitudes who thronged about 
John — "Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region 
round about Jordan" (Matt. iii. 5) — to receive bap- 
tism at his hands, we see not how the water could be 
conveniently obtained, excepting by all parties going 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 373. 



187 



to the river ; and in the warm climate of Judea, and 
with the dress and costumes common at that day, 
we see not how it could be as conveniently adminis- 
tered, in any other way, as by the parties walking 
into the Jordan, as we have supposed them to do. 

2. A second reason why John baptized in Jordan, 
exists in the nature of John's baptism. As we have 
already shown in § 29, John's baptism was not Chris- 
tian baptism, but a Jewish baptism. It was a bap- 
tism administered in Judea, by a Jew, to Jews, and 
whilst the Old Testament dispensation had not as yet 
passed away. The law of Moses was still in force, as 
is evident from our Savior's teaching and example, up 
to the time of the pentecostal baptism of the Apos- 
tles with " the Holy Ghost and with fire." According 
to the law of Moses, whatever an unclean person 
touched, even water, was thereby rendered unclean — 
an exception being made in the case of running wa- 
ter, including fountains and " pits wherein is plenty 
of water" (see § 10), a kind of pit not to be met with 
in " a wilderness." John's baptisms were undoubt- 
edly of the nature of purifications," i. e. a separation 
of the baptized unto God's service, as expectants of 
the coming Messiah, and if these baptisms are to be 
performed in accordance with the requirements of 
the law, no other place than such an one as the " river 
Jordan," or iEnon (see § 39), will answer the pur- 



188 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

pose. And in proof that this was the great reason 
why John baptized, first in Jordan and afterwards at 
iEnon, we ask the reader to remark the fact that af- 
ter the Christian dispensation was fairly introduced, 
we read no more in the Word of God of baptisms " in 
rivers," but, in every instance, baptisms appear to 
have been administered just where the convert has 
been led to embrace the truth, as in the case of the 
three thousand on the day of pentecost, and the cases 
of Paul, of Cornelius, and the Jailer at Phillippi. 

Here, then, we have two answers to Dr. Carson's 
questions, " What could take him to the river if he 
was only to be sprinkled ? what could take him to the 
edge of the water?" And they are both of them 
spiritual answers too, suggested by the inspired nar- 
rative itself. Can as much be said on behalf of im- 
mersion, as a reason for John's baptizing in Jordan. 



§ 39. John's baptisms at ^EJnon. 

John, iii. ver. 23. — " And John also was baptizing in 
JEnon, near to Salim, because there was 
much water (literally, many waters) there." 

1. What are we to understand by the " much 
water " (or, as both the words in the Greek have the 






189 



plural form, a literal translation will be " many 
waters") here spoken of? Some will answer — sim- 
ply, a large quantity of water. To this we reply ; 
Scripture usage is at variance with this answer. No 
example can be adduced of the use of this form of 
expression, in the New Testament, to designate 
the quantity of water merely. It is the waters of a 
sea or lake, as broken into waves, or the multiplied 
waters of numerous streams or fountains to which 
alone it is applied. Rev. i. 15 ; Rev. xvii. 1, 15. 

The suggestion arising out of the peculiar form of 
expression used in the text, becomes, in our view, a 
certainty, when we take into account the name of 
the place " JEnon." " En or JEn," says Calmet, in 
his Bible Dictionary, " signifies a fountain^ for 
which reason we find it compounded in many names 
of places ; e. g. En-Dor, i. e. the fountain of Dor, 
En-Geddi, i. e. the fountain of Geddi." JEnonis the 
plural of iEn, and of course means fountains. The 
names of almost all places, in early times, were signi- 
ficant, and given on account of some remarkable 
event which had happened there, or some peculiarity 
of the place. How is it likely that this place ever 
got the name of ^non (the springs) excepting from 
the fact that there were many fountains there. 
Translate the passage literally, and fully, and it will 
read — -" John was baptizing at the springs near to 



190 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Salim, because there were many waters there." 
Does not the interpretation which would make these 
" many waters" to be many fountains or streams, ap- 
pear, not simply the most natural, but the only 
natural one. 

2. But why select this place, on this account, for 
administering baptism? Certainly, not because 
fountains, or streams near their fountains, are pecu- 
liarly adapted to immersion. We have read, in our 
day, of baptism by immersion in rivers, in ponds, and 
in baptistries, but never of immersions in springs or 
fountains. Nor can we admit the explanation some- 
times given, that the " many waters " at JEnon, 
made it a very suitable place for people to congre- 
gate in large numbers, since they would thus be se- 
cured against all suffering from thirst. In writing 
as the Apostle does — " John was baptizing at ^Enon, 
near to Salim, because there were many waters 
there," he seems, according to fair principles of inter- 
pretation, to mention the " many waters" there, as 
that which rendered the place a fit one for adminis- 
tering baptism at. 

John selected JEnon for his later baptisms, and 
JEnon was a fit place for those baptisms, because 
those baptisms were Jewish and not Christian bap- 
tisms. The law of Moses must be complied with, 
and that law required that baptisms such as these 



THE BAPTISMS OF THE EUNUCH. 191 

should be administered in running water, or in a 
spring, or a pit wherein was plenty of water ; and 
this, in order that the defilement which the water ac- 
quired by contact with the person first baptized, 
might not unfit it for the baptism of the second. 



§ 40. The laptism of the Eunuch. 

Acts, viii. ver. 36. " And as they went on their way, 
they came to a certain water : and the eunuch 
said, See, here is water ; what doth hinder me 
to be baptized % 

37. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy 

heart thou mayest. And he answered and 
said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
God. 

38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still : 

and they went down both into the water, both 
Philip and the eunuch ; and he baptized him. 

39. And when they were come up out of the water, 

the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that 
the eunuch saw him no more : and he went on 
his way rejoicing." 

This baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip is 
thought to have been a baptism by immersion, from 



192 THE MODE OP BAPTISM. 

Luke's use of the expressions — " And they went down 
both into the water. And when they were come up 
out of the water." Admitting, for the present, the 
Baptist's supposition, that the "certain water here 
mentioned was some large body of water, such as a 
river or pool ; we ask — Would not Luke have used 
the same forms of expression in describing the trans- 
action, had the baptism been performed in the other 
way, which all the most ancient pictorial representa- 
tions of our Lord's baptism point out as that which 
John practised? 

But there are circumstances in this narrative, which 
lead us to think that the eunuch was baptized with- 
out either he or Philip entering the water. 

The Greek word here translated into, is the same 
word translated unto, in Matt. xv. 24, " I am not sent 
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel ;" Matt. 
xxii. 4, " All things are ready : come unto the mar- 
riage ; John, xi. 31, " She goeth unto the sepulchre, 
that she may weep there ;" said of Mary, while the 
stone which closed the sepulchre was not yet taken 
away, v. 39. And the Greek word, translated "out 
of" is the same translated from, in Matt. xiii. 49, 
" And sever the wicked from among the just," 
Mark, xiii. 27, "And shall gather together his elect 
from the four winds ;" Mark, i. 11, a And there came 
a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved 



THE BAPTISM OF THE EUNUCH. 193 

Son, in whom I am well pleased." From these ex- 
amples (and we could easily adduce many more, did 
it seem necessary), it is evident that Scriptural usage 
will authorize the translation, either into or unto, and 
out of or from, and consequently the translation, in 
any particular instance, must be determined in some 
way, before it can be appealed to in argument. 

Can the sense in which they are here used be de- 
termined from the context % The Baptist will say the 
expressions " went down" and " came up" call for the 
translations into and out of. The verbs of motion 
here in question, in the original Greek, are compound- 
ed with the prepositions, instead of standing separate, 
as they do in our English version. A literal transla- 
tion, preserving the exact form of the original as far 
as it can be preserved in a translation, is — " And he 
commanded the chariot to stand, and they descended 
both eis (unto or into) the water, that is, Philip and 
the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they 
ascended ek (from or out of) the water." It is only 
in our English translation, then, that the expressions 
"went down" and " came up" seem to call for the 
translations into and out of. 

If, however, as we think, the " certain water" at 
which this baptism was performed, can be shown 
to have been, in all probability, a wayside well or 
fountain, this would determine the translation of 



194 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

these prepositions, as men do not usually go into, 
but unto a well or fountain, and do not come out of : 
but from one. 

Our reasons for thinking this "certain water" 
was in all probability, a wayside well or foun- 
tain, are: 

1. The name which Luke gives it — "a certain 
water," (and this is a literal translation of the ori- 
ginal), does not imply anything more than such a 
wayside well. This fact, taken in connection with 
the other, that he gives it no specific name — rivers, 
lakes, and even pools, ordinarily having particular 
names, and names by which they are spoken of in 
Scripture — naturally suggests that this was some 
inconsiderable wayside well or fountain, having 
no particular name, and therefore called by the 
most general of all names, " a certain water." 

2. On the way from Jerusalem to Gaza, the way 
that Philip and the eunuch were travelling when 
they came to this "certain water," neither the 
Scriptures nor the writings of modern travellers give 
us the slightest intimation of the existence of any 
river or other large body of water. 

3. Luke expressly tells us, that the way tbey 
were travelling was a "desert" way: "In the way 
that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is 
desert" — not Gaza, but — "the way is desert." On 



THE BAPTISM OF THE EUNUCH. 195 

a desert way, it is altogether improbable that any 
large body of water would be met with : whilst we 
know, from various intimations in Scripture, as well 
as from the testimony of modern travellers, that 
wayside wells are to be met with even in desert 
countries, and that the routes of travel are usually 
arranged with reference to these wayside wells. 

4. Besides all this, we think that there is intima- 
tion in the inspired record of this event, of the way 
in which this baptism was actually performed. Let 
the reader notice that the subject of baptism is 
introduced by the eunuch, and not by Philip: "x\nd 
the eunuch said, See, here is water, what doth hinder 
me to be baptized?" Was there anything in the 
passage of Scripture that Philip was expoundings 
which would naturally bring up this subject before 
the mind of the eunuch? The passage from which 
PhiMp was preaching unto him, Jesus, was from the 
prophecy of Isaiah. (See vers. 32, 33.) Turning to 
this passage (remembering that the division of the 
Bible into chapters is of modern origin, and there- 
fore, of no authority), it will be seen that the pas- 
sage commences with the 13th verse of chap. 52, 
and embraces the whole of chap. 53 ; since it is in 
the verse first mentioned, Isaiah introduces the sub- 
ject of Christ's vicarious sufferings, the subject of 
which he continues to treat throughout the follow- 



196 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ing chapter. Among the first things that Isaiah 
says of Jesus is, "so shall he sprinMe many nations." 
(Isai. lii. 15.) Could Philip have expounded these 
words without being led to speak of baptism — and 
then, how natural would it be, when they came to 
"a certain water," that the eunuch should say, "See, 
here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized ?" 
But if Philip preached baptism to the eunuch, from 
the words "he shall sprinkle many nations," was it 
likely to be a baptism by immersion? 

Whilst, then, we grant that the Greek preposition 
eis means into as well as to, and eh means out of as 
well as from-, for all these reasons, we translate the 
passage under examination: "And they descended 
both to the water, that is, Philip and the eunuch, and 
he baptized him. And when they ascended from the 
water;" and we express the opinion that whilst there 
is not absolute certainty, yet all the probabilities 
which can be gathered from a careful examination 
of the sacred narrative, favor the idea that this bap- 
tism of the eunuch by Philip, was performed by 
"sprinkling" and not by immersion. 

The reader has now all the facts of this case before 
him ; and we ask, is there anything here to author- 
ize such language as that of Dr. Carson? "The 
man who can read it (i. e. Acts, viii. 36-39), and 
not see immersion in it, must have something in his 



THE BAPTISM OF THE EUNUCH. 197 

mind unfavorable to the investigation of truth. As 
long as I fear God, I cannot, for all the kingdoms of 
the world, resist the evidence of this single docu- 
ment. Nay, had I no more conscience than Satan 
himself, I could not, as a scholar, attempt to expel 
immersion from this account. All the ingenuity of 
all the critics in Europe could not silence the evi- 
dence of this passage. Amidst the most violent 
perversion that it can sustain on the rack, i.t*will 
still cry out, immersion, immersion!" 1 Is this the 
calm expression of a conclusion intelligently reached? 
or is it the blustering dogmatism and denunciation 
of the prejudiced advocate of a weak cause? 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 128. 



198 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

§ 41. The Baptism of the three thousand, Acts, ii. 38, 41. § 42. Paul's Baptism, 
Acts, ix. 17, 18 ; xxii. 12-16. § 43. The baptism of Cornelius, Acts, x. 44-48. 
§ 44. The Baptism of the Jailer, Acts, xvi. 32-34. 

§ 41. The Baptism of the three thousand. 

Acts, ii. ver. 38. " Then Peter said unto them, 
Pepent and be baptized every one of you, in 
the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of 
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. 

41. Then they that gladly received his word were 
baptized : and the same day there were added 
unto them about three thousand souls." 

In this record, it appears : — 1. That the three 
thousand persons here mentioned, were baptized im- 
mediately upon the close of Peter's sermon ; and, of 
course, in but a part of a day ; and 2. That these bap- 
tisms were administered in the same place where that 
sermon had been preached, i. e. at the door of the 
house in which the Apostles were, when they them- 



THE BAPTISM OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 199 

selves were baptized " with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire ;" at the least, there is no intimation given by 
Luke of their having quitted that place. Taking 
nothing for granted now, bnt what appears in the 
sacred record, the baptism of these three thousand, if 
performed by aspersion, would all seem very natural ; 
the water-pots which the Jews were accustomed to 
keep near the entrance of their houses for purification 
(see John, iii. 6), would have furnished a convenient 
and abundant supply of water for baptizing the whole 
three thousand in this way. But in supposing they 
were baptized by immersion, there is serious diffi- 
culty, both in the fact that so large a number were 
baptized in so short a time, and in the fact that no 
mention is made of their having quitted the place 
where they had listened to Peter's sermon, in order 
that the baptism might be performed. 

This last-mentioned fact would not have claimed, 
fairly, as much attention as it does, were it not true 
that in the case of the travelling eunuch, in circum- 
stances in which no convenient vessel for bringing 
the water was likely to be at hand (for in eastern 
countries travellers do not ordinarily carry drinking 
vessels with them, as illustrated in the case of 
Gideon's ten thousand men, Judges, vii. 5, 6), we are 
expressly informed that they both left the chariot, 
" and descended to the water ;" whilst, in the bap- 



200 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

tism of these three thousand, the baptism of Paul, 
the baptism of Cornelius, and that of the Philippian 
jailer, all which were performed in cities, or in 
houses, where water vessels must have been at hand, 
no intimation is given of the parties having quitted 
the spot, for baptism. But, in every instance, the 
natural interpretation of the narrative is, that the 
baptisms were performed just where the parties to 
be baptized first believed in Christ Jesus. 



§ 42. PauVs Baptism. 

Acts, ix., ver. 17. " And Ananias went his way, 
and entered into the house : and putting his 
hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord 
(even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the 
way as thou earnest) hath sent me, that thou 
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost. 

18. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it 
had been scales : and he received sight forth- 
with, and arose, and was baptized." 

Acts, xxii., ver. 12. " And one Ananias, a devout 
man according to the law, having a good re- 
port of all the Jews which dwelt there, 

13. Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, 



201 



Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the 
same hour I looked up upon him. 

14. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen 

thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and 
see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice 
of his mouth. 

15. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of 

what thou hast seen and heard. 

16. And now why tarriest thou ? arise and be bap- 

tized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the 
name of the Lord." 



Let the reader call to mind now the facts in Paul's 
case, as we learn them from Luke's narrative. He 
had been struck blind, by Jesus appearing to him in 
a light above the brightness of the mid-day sun ; and 
in this condition, led by his attendants, he had 
come to the house of Judas, in the city of Damascus. 
Here he had remained three days, blind, neither 
eating nor drinking, but engaged in prayer, when 
Ananias was sent of God to him. Bead now the in- 
spired record of his baptism. And is not this the fair 
and natural interpretation of it ; that Paul is found 
of Ananias, kneeling or sitting down, and engaged in 
prayer, and that whilst he is yet in this position, his 
blindness is miraculously removed ; and then, imme- 



202 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

diately, lie arises from his knees, and is there baptized 
upon the spot, and baptized in a standing position ? 

This is the natural interpretation of Luke's lan- 
guage, as it appears in our English version. In the 
original, the language is more definite. On the ex- 
pressions " arise and be baptized (literally, standing 
up be baptized), and " arose and was baptized" 
(literally, standing up he was baptized), Dr. <J. H. 
Rice remarks correctly : " According to the idiom 
of the Greek language, these two words do not make 
two different commands, as the English reader would 
suppose, when he read 1, arise; 2, heoaptized. But 
the participle (arise, literally, standing up) simply 
modifies the signification of the verb, or rather is used 
to complete the action of the verb ; and, therefore, 
instead of warranting the opinion that Paul rose up, 
went out, and was immersed, it definitely and pre- 
cisely expresses his posture when he received bap- 
tism." 1 

§ 43. Baptism of Cornelius. 

Acts, x. ver. 44. " While Peter yet spake these 
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which 
heard the word. 

45. And they of the circumcision which believed, 

1 The Pamphleteer. No. 1, p. 89. 
9* 



BAPTISM OF CORNELIUS. 203 

were astonished, as many as came with Peter, 
because that on the Gentiles also was poured 
out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

46. For they heard them speak with tongues, and 

magnify God. Then answered Peter, 

47. Can any man forbid water, that these should not 

be baptized, which have received the Holy 
Ghost as well as we ? 

48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the 

name of the Lord." 

This discourse of Peter's, thus followed by the 
outpouring of the Spirit, was delivered in the house 
of Cornelius (see ver. 27), and was addressed to 
Cornelius and "his kinsmen and near friends," 
whom he had assembled there. "While Peter was 
yet speaking," i. e. before he had brought his 
discourse to its intended close, "the Holy Ghost fell 
on all them which heard the word." Thus were 
they baptized by the Lord, as foretold by John: 
"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire." Peter seeing this, and prepared by his 
vision at Joppa to understand it aright, at once asks, 
(not as needing or desiring an answer, but as 
strongly expressing the conclusion to which he had 
come), "Can any man forbid water, that these 
should not be baptized, which have received the 



204 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded 
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." 

Here, then, as in the cases last examined, the 
natural, and the only natural interpretation of the 
language is, that these baptisms were administered 
upon the spot; and as God had baptized them by 
" pouring out" by causing to "fall on them" the 
visible symbol of the Holy Ghost, that God's ser- 
vants baptized them also by " pouring out" water, 
the symbol of the Holy Spirit's influences upon 
them. 

§ 44. Baptism of the Jailer. 

Acts XVI. 

Yer. 32. "And they spake unto him the word of the 
Lord, and to all that were in his house. 

33. And he took them the same hour of the night, and 

washed their stripes; and was baptized, he 
and all his, straightway. 

34. And when he had brought them into his house, 

he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believ- 
ing in God with all his house." 

There is a slight apparent discrepancy between 
the parts of this account, as it appears in our Eng- 



BAPTISM OF THE JAILEE. 205 

lish version, which does not exist in the Greek. It 
is first said, "And they spake unto him the word of 
the Lord, and to all that were in his house" thus 
plainly implying that the address of Paul and Silas 
was delivered in the house. And then afterwards, 
it is added — "And when he had brought them into 
his house, he set meat before them," as if they had 
not entered the house before. In the original, there 
are here two different words translated by the one 
English word house. The one used in ver. 32 is 
the more comprehensive term, including not only 
the house (in our English sense of that word), but 
also the out-houses and servants' apartments, which, 
in most ancient habitations, surrounded the house 
proper, and enclosed it with its court. The one 
used in ver. 34 is a term corresponding more 
exactly to our word house. 

Bearing this distinction in mind, a fair interpreta- 
tion of Luke's narrative will require us to under- 
stand that the baptism of the jailer "and all his" 
was performed in the court, and this, straightway 
(literally, on the spot). And then, that after this, 
they were taken into the house proper, and there 
refreshed. Here, then, we have still another in- 
stance of baptism upon the spot where the convert 
has received Christ, and where we have no intima- 
tion of there being water for baptism by immersion. 



206 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Some Baptist writers have attempted to break the 
force of the argument, from these several baptisms 
upon the spot, by telling us of the dependence in 
which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were, upon the 
rains of heaven for the water needed for daily use ; 
and, consequently, of the large number of cisterns 
which had been built in that city. The evidence of 
the existence of such numerous cisterns in Jerusalem 
is very questionable, to say the least of it. But, 
granting their existence, it matters not, for our pres- 
ent purpose, in how great numbers. Of what use 
will cisterns in Jerusalem be, for immersing Paul at 
Damascus, or Cornelius at Csesarea, or the Jailer at 
Philippi — not one of which places is even in Judea? 
Whilst, in the case of the only one of these baptisms 
which did take place at Jerusalem — the baptism of 
the three thousand on the day of Pentecost — the 
number is so great that even Baptist writers are not 
satisfied with the cisterns, but imagine the multi- 
tude to have gone to some such pool as that of Be- 
thesda for immersion. 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 207 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 

The arguments by which the Baptist would estab- 
lish his position, that immersion is the one, only 
mode of baptism, as stated in §33, are, from — 1, The 
meaning of the word baptizo ; 2, The emblematic 
import of baptism ; and 3, The practice of Christ 
and his apostles. 

The reader has now before him all that can be 
gathered from the Word of God on these several 
points. In our examination, no passage of Scripture 
calculated to throw light upon this subject has been 
omitted. Let us bring together now the results of 
this examination. 

First. The argument from the meaning of the 
word baptizo. Affirming that " baptizo is a specific- 
term ; that it has but one signification ; that it 
always signifies to dip, never expressing anything 
but mode" — the Baptist argues that to speak of bap- 
tizing by sprinkling or pouring, is a contradiction in 
terms, and must so have presented itself to the mind 
of every one to whom the command " repent and be 
baptized " was addressed, in the days of Christ and 
his apostles — just as we, at the present day, would 



208 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

see a contradiction in terms in speaking of immers- 
ing by sprinkling or pouring. 

In Part I. we have examined every instance of 
the nse of the word baptizo in the Scriptures ; and, 
as the result of that examination, have found that, 
in the Word of God, baptizo is always used as a reli- 
gious term, in the Old Testament sense of the word 
purify, and never in the sense of dip or immerse. 
The Baptist argument for immersion, from the mean- 
ing of this word, then, when the falsity of the as- 
sumption upon which it rests is made to appear, falls. 

But we stop not here. We admit that, could it 
be shown that baptizo did signify to dip and to dip 
only, this would, to say the least of it, create a 
strong presumption in favor of dipping, as the truly 
primitive, apostolic mode of baptism. And admit- 
ting this, we have a right to claim — when it is shown 
(and this we think has been done) that baptizo is 
always used, in the "Word of God, in the sense of 
Jcatharizo, to purify — on this ground, a strong pre- 
sumption in favor of a variety in mode being allowed 
in baptism, such as all admit was allowed in the 
purifications practised under the Old Testament dis- 
pensation. 

Second. The argument from the emblematic im- 
port of baptism. Assuming that in baptism we 
have an emblem, not of spiritual purification, or 



SUMMING UP CONCLUSION. 209 

regeneration, alone, but also of "death, burial, and 
resurrection," it is hence inferred that as in immer- 
sion we have the aptest representation of death, 
burial, and resurrection, baptism must have been 
administered by Christ and his apostles, and ought 
to be administered in our day, by immersion. 

1. Understanding this death, burial, and resur- 
rection to be spiritual — and this is the only sense 
which the text will admit of in Rom. vi. 3, 4, and 
Col. ii. 12, the passages chiefly relied upon by the 
Baptist — we have seen that the argument rests upon 
the false assumption that spiritual death, burial, and 
resurrection, was something different from regenera- 
tion ; whereas, as the terms are used in Scripture, 
they mean one and the same thing. §§ 34, 35, 36. 

2. Understanding the death, burial, and resurrec- 
tion to be that of the believer (and Baptist authors 
sometimes write as if this were what they intended), 
the argument rests upon 1 Cor. xv. 29 alone, a pas- 
sage of somewhat doubtful interpretation ; but in 
which all the probabilities of the case point us to the 
death of Christ as that to which Paul refers in his 
expression, " baptized for the dead :" and this, not 
as something symbolized in baptism, but as some- 
thing which Paul has simply supposed to be true, in 
the course of his argument for the resurrection of 
the believer. § 37. 



210 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Dr. Carson writes : " Had no emblem but that of 
purification been intended in tins ordinance, we do 
not say that immersion would be either essential or 
preferable." (p. 381.) This might be fairly claimed 
by us, even if not expressly admitted by the Baptist. 
We have seen that according to Scripture, no 
emblem but that of purification is intended to be 
included in this ordinance ; and hence, we conclude 
in Dr, Carson's own words, "that immersion is 
neither essential nor preferable " to pouring or 
sprinkling, as a mode of baptism. 

Third. In our examination of the practice in the 
days of Christ and his Apostles ■, as that practice is 
to be gathered from the inspired narrative of bap- 
tisms then administered, we have found : 

1. That the baptisms administered by John Bap- 
tist and by Christ's disciples, before our Lord's 
death, were not Christian, but Jewish baptisms ; at 
least, in so far as is implied in their being adminis- 
tered in Judea, to Jews, by John and Christ's 
disciples, themselves Jews, and whilst the Old Tes- 
tament dispensation had not as yet passed away — 
the law of Moses, as decided by Christ himself, 
being yet in force. (§§ 29, 38.) Even should we 
admit, then, that they were baptisms by immersion, 
this admission could affect our decision of the ques- 
tion respecting the mode of Christian baptism, only 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 211 

as it would render it probable that the Apostles 
afterward practised the same mode ; the mode of 
John's baptism can no more bind the faith of the 
Church, under this our Christian dispensation, than 
that of other Jewish baptisms (the " diverse bap- 
tisms " of which Paul speaks in his Epistle to the 
Hebrews), many of which were undoubtedly per- 
formed by sprinkling. 

2. But we do not admit that these baptisms of 
John's and Christ's disciples were baptisms by im- 
mersion. So far from it, we think that the true rea- 
son why these baptisms were performed in Jordan 
and "at ^Enon (the Springs) near to Salirn," is to be 
found in the fact that they were Jewish baptisms, 
Moses' law requiring the purification, in such cases, 
to be effected in running water. §§ 38, 39. 

3. The baptism of the eunuch, the only Christian 
baptism, in the account of which the Baptist finds 
any evidence of immersion, appears to have been ad- 
minstered at a wayside well or fountain — and, in- so- 
far as anything can be learned from the Scriptures, 
to have been a baptism by sprinkling. § 40. 

4. The other baptisms recorded in the Scripture ; 
viz., the baptism of the three thousand on the day 
of Pentecost, that of Paul, that of Cornelius, and 
that of the Jailer at Philippi, all appear to have 
been administered upon the spot, where the person 



212 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

baptized first believed in Christ Jesus ; in the 
streets of Jerusalem, in the private house at Csesa- 
rea and Damascus, in the prison-court at Philippi, 
and that of Paul, at the least to have been adminis- 
tered with the baptized person in a standing posture. 
All these circumstances, irreconcilable with the 
idea of baptism by immersion, accord well with 
that of baptism by sprinkling or pouring. §§ 41, 
42, 43, 44. 

5. Even admitting (and we admit it simply for 
argument's sake) that it could be clearly shown that 
the Apostles did baptize by immersion ; this, of it- 
self, could not bind the faith of the Church, unless 
the principle were established that mere mode is 
essential to the validity of a sacrament, a principle 
which no Christian church will admit to be true. 
There can be no question that the Lord's Supper, as 
administered by Christ to his disciples, was adminis- 
tered at night, the communicants lying upon couches 
around a table. On these points no question has 
ever been raised. Unless, then, some good reason 
can be given why mode is essential to one sacra- 
ment and not to the other, consistency requires of 
the Baptist that he first administer the Lord's Sup- 
per in the mode in which he admits that Christ 
administered it, ere he demand of others that they 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 213 

administer baptism in that mode, alone, in which it 
was admistered in Apostolic times. 

The conclusion, in this whole matter, to which we 
come, is — 

1. There is nothing in the meaning of the word 
baptizo, nor in the emblematical import of the rite 
of baptism, to authorize the belief that any particu- 
lar mode of applying the water to the person of the 
baptized, is essential to the validity of baptism. 

2. Whilst we cannot determine, with absolute cer- 
tainty, whether sprinkling, pouring or immersion, 
was the mode of baptism practised in the days of 
Christ and his Apostles, immersion is the least pro- 
bable of the three. 

3. To require immersion in order to admission to 
the church of God, is to infringe upon that "liberty 
wherewith Christ hath made his people free," and to 
" teach for doctrine, the commandments of men.'' 
And to exclude from the Lord's table, the Lord's 
people, because they have not been immersed, is to 
bring upon the soul the guilt of the sin of schism. 



214 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



SUPPLEMENT AEY NOTE. 

THE PEACTICE OF IMMERSION IN EAELY TIMES. 

Baptist authors, generally, attach a great deal of 
importance to the fact that immersion was practised 
in the Church at a very early age. The author of 
the article on " Baptism" in the Encyclopedia of 
Religious Knowledge, writes : " On this point there 
is overwhelming evidence. The best ecclesiastical 
historians — Mosheim, Waddington, JSTeander, &c. — 
affirm that the practice of the primitive Church was 
immersion." And this fact he makes one of his four 
arguments for immersion, the other three being — 
The meaning of the word haptizo; The emblematic 
import of baptism ; and, The practice of Christ and 
his apostles. 

If by " the primitive Church" we understand the 
ancient, as contradistinguished from the Apostolic 
Church — i. e., the Church in the third century, and 
later — the correctness of the above statement will 



IMMERSION IN EARLY TIMES. 215 

not be called in question by any one. But why do 
many Baptist writers keep back the fact, established 
by precisely the same authority, that this immer- 
sion was performed with the person of the baptized 
naked ? 

Dr. Carson, in his reply to Dr. Miller, admits that 
immersion was received naked, in the third and 
fourth centuries, and does not deny that such was 
the fact at an earlier date. (Carson on Baptism, pp. 
380, 381.) 

The Baptist historian, Robinson, in his " History 
of Baptism" (a book written by request of the Bap- 
tist ministers of London), is more ingenuous. His 
words are : " The primitive Christians baptized 
naked. Nothing is easier than to give proof of this, 
by quotations from the authentic writings of men 
who administered baptism, and who certainly knew 
in what way they themselves performed it. There is 
no ancient historical fact better authenticated than 
this. This evidence does not go on the meaning of 
the single word naked ; for then the reader might 
suspect allegory ; but on many facts reported, and 
many reasons assigned for the practice." 

Wall, in his " History of Baptism," writes : " The 
ancient Christians, when they were baptized by im- 
mersion, were all baptized naked, whether they were 
men, women, or children" 



216 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

As one reads such statements as these, the ques- 
tions will arise — Can these things be so ? Is there 
not some mistake about this matter ? Is it credible 
that in the East, where the most rigid notions of 
womanly propriety have prevailed from time imme- 
morial, women received oajptism, naked? Is such a 
practice as this consistent with that "modesty" 
which no book more emphatically than the New 
Testament enjoins upon woman % To these questions 
we do not hesitate to return the answer — The thing 
is incredible ; such a practice is utterly at variance 
with Christian modesty in woman. 

The true explanation of the matter, we believe, is 
that given by Taylor, in his " Facts and Evidences," 
viz., That, at an early date, there was added to the 
simple baptismal rite, as practised by Christ and his 
apostles, a washing of the whole body in water, as a 
preparation for the baptism proper — just as there 
was added the anointing of the body with oil, and 
the clothing of the person in a white garment, as 
rites following upon the baptism, at almost if not 
quite as early a date. This preparatory washing of 
the body was performed in a bath, and, in the case 
of women, with none but women present; and this' 
it was which was performed by immersion, and with 
the person naked— the baptism proper being after- 



IMMERSION IN EARLY TIMES. 217 

wards administered in presence of the church, and 
by sprinkling or pouring. 
In support of this explanation, we urge : 

1. With the peculiar attachment of the Jewish 
converts to the law of Moses, the addition of an 
ablution, preparatory to baptism, would be one of 
the most natural changes which could be made in 
the apostolic rite of baptism. They regarded bap- 
tism as, essentially, a purification ; and a prepara- 
tory washing was, in many instances, enjoined in 
Moses' law ; e. g., in the cleansing of a leper (Lev. 
xiv.), the cleansing of one having an issue (Lev. xv.), 
the cleansings to be effected by the water of separa- 
tion (Numb, xix.) 

2. There is nothing in any of the statements made 
by ancient writers, and relied upon to prove the 
early practice of immersion (in so far as we have 
seen), inconsistent with this explanation, but much 
to favor it. 

3. In the Abyssinian Church, at the present day, 
a washing of the whole body, preparatory to bap- 
tism, is practised, the baptism itself being performed 
by affusion (See Taylor's Facts and Evidences, pp. 
153, 154:). The Abyssinian Church being that one 
of the ancient churches which has for ages been 
almost entirely cut off from all communication with 

10 



218 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

other parts of the world, is, on this account, the one 
most likely to have retained the practice prevailing 
in early times. 

4. The testimony of Epiphanius, Bishop of Con- 
stantia, who wrote during the fourth century, when 
speaking of the office of the deaconess: "There are 
also deaconesses in the Church ; but this office was 
not instituted as a priestly function, nor has it any 
interference with priestly administrations ; but it was 
instituted for the purpose of preserving a due regard 
to the modesty of the female sex, especially at the 
Untie of baptismal washing, and while the person of 
the woman is naked, that she may not be seen by the 
men performing the sacred service, but by her only 
who is appointed to take charge of the woman 
during the time she was naked." (Epiphanius, as 
quoted by Taylor in his " Facts and Evidences," p. 
168.) 

We refer to this matter here, not as an argument 
for baptism by sprinkling or affusion — for our pur- 
pose is to offer as argument nothing but what the 
Scriptures themselves furnish — but, 

1. That the Baptist argument from the early prac- 
tice of the Church — an argument based, as we think, 
upon a misapprehension of the facts recorded — may 
not prejudice the mind of the reader against the 
reception of Scripture truth. 



TTVnVfERSIOST IN EARLY TIMES. 219 

2. To show the reader the way in which immer- 
sion has come to be substituted for sprinkling or 
pouring, as practised by the apostles. And, 

3. As affording a strong incidental confirmation 
of the correctness of the definition we have given to 
ftaptizo when used as a religious term, viz., to cleanse 
or purify. 



P A E T III 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



OHAPTEE I. 

§ 43. Statement of the Question, and of the Arguments relied on by Baptists and 
Pedo-Baptists. 

To the question, To whom is Christian baptism to 
be administered ? 

The Baptist replies : To such as make a credible 
profession of faith in Christ, and to such only. 

The Presbyterian replies: "JSTot only those that 
do actually profess faith in and obedience unto 
Christ, but also the infants of one or both believing 
parents are to be baptized." (Presbyterian Confes- 
sion of Faith, chap. 28.) 

And here we ask the reader to notice — 

1. With respect to the case of adults who have 
not been baptized in infancy, there is no difference 
of opinion. They are to be baptized upon a credi 



224 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

ble profession of faith in Christ alone. Such must 
have been the case with all the converts on the day 
of Pentecost, and for some time afterwards, since 
proper Christian baptism was never administered 
before that time. 

2. The only point, in so far as the subjects of 
baptism are concerned, on which the Baptist and 
Presbyterian differ, is — Does the Word of God teach 
that Christian baptism is to be administered to 
infant children, where one or both the parents are 
professed believers f 

The grounds upon which the Baptist seeks to 
establish his position are — ' 

1. The commission given by Christ to his Church, 
when about to be taken in bodily presence from his 
disciples, and recorded in Mark. xvi. 15, 16. This 
commission, he affirms, is given in terms which 
exclude the idea of the administration of baptism to 
infants. 

2. The import of baptism, as the ordinance is 
explained in the Word of God. This, he affirms, is 
utterly inconsistent with its administration to any 
but believers. 

The arguments by which we shall seek to esta- 
blish the position assumed in the Presbyterian Con- 
fession of Faith, are : 

1. Assuming that Christian baptism is the initia- 



STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION". 225 

tory rite of the Church, under the Christian dispen- 
sation (and this the Baptist maintains as zealously as 
we do), and that infant-membership in the Church 
was established of God, under the Old Testament 
dispensation (and this we shall prove from Scrip- 
ture, although but few Baptists will deny it). We 
shall attempt to show, 1. That the visible Church of 
God has ever been one; and consequently, as the 
rite of infant-membership in that Church has not 
been repealed, it must continue. And 2. That this 
right of infant-membership — and hence, of infant- 
baptism — was expressly recognized by Christ and 
his Apostles. 

2. The express mention made in the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures, of family baptisms. 

Other arguments have been adduced, some of 
them of great weight, from the experience of the 
Church at the present day, the history of the 
Church, especially in primitive times, and what are 
thought to be the proprieties of the case. As, how- 
ever, our purpose is to give a purely Scriptural dis- 
cussion of the question, settling it, if at all, upon the 
authority of the Word of God, and the Word of God 
alone, we shall take no notice of these arguments, as 
urged on either side. 



226 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTEK II. 

§ 46. Christ's commission to his Church, Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 16 ; 
Luke, xxiv. 47-49. 

§ 46. Matt. XXYIII. 

Yer. 19. " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 

20. Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever 
I have commanded yon: and lo, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world. 
Amen." 

Mark, XVI. 

Yer. 15. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture. 

16. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; 
but he that believeth not shall be damned." 



227 



Luke, XXIV, 



Ver. 47. " And" (Jesus said unto them, v. 46) " that 
repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name among all nations, be- 
ginning at Jerusalem. 

48. And ye are witnesses of these things. 

49. And behold, I send the promise of my Father 

upon you ; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusa- 
lem, until ye be endued with power from on 
high." 

Kemarking upon Mark, xvi. 16., Dr. Carson 
writes: — "I am willing to hang the whole contro- 
versy on this passage. If I had not another passage 
in the Word of God, I would engage to refute my 
opponents from the words of this commission alone. 
I will risk the credit of my understanding, on my 
success in showing that according to this commission 
believers only are to be baptized." * 

The Baptist reasons upon this passage, thus : 
Baptism is here made consequent upon faith — " He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." And 
as no one pretends that infants can exercise faith in 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 169. 



228 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

Christ, the faith here spoken of, this passage prohib- 
its their baptism. 

For the purpose of bringing out distinctly the 
nature of this argument, let us give it the form of 
what logicians call a syllogism. 

" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
Says the Baptist, 

Syl. I. Baptism is here made consequent upon faith. 

Infants cannot exercise faith ; 
Therefore — Infants must not be baptized. 

If, in our Lord's words, "He that believeth, and is 
baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall be 
damned" baptism is made consequent upon faith, in 
such a sense as to restrict it to those who believe, 
upon precisely the same principles of interpretation 
salvation is made consequent upon faith, in such a 
sense as to restrict it to those that believe, and dam- 
nation is made consequent upon not believing. We, 
therefore, call upon the Baptist, consistently to fol- 
low out his principles of interpretation, as express- 
ed in the two following syllogisms : — 

Syl. II. Salvation is here made consequent upon 

faith. Infants cannot exercise faith ; 
Therefore — Infants cannot be saved. 



CHRIST'S COMMISSION TO HIS CHURCH. 229 

Syl. III. Damnation is here made consequent upon 

not believing. Infants do not believe. 
Therefore — Infants must be damned. 

And further ; if in these words of our Lord, bap- 
tism is made consequent upon faith — upon the same 
principles of interpretation, but more clearly, is sal- 
vation made consequent upon baptism; since faith 
and baptism are connected together by the copula- 
tive " and," and together declared to be the antece- 
dents of salvation. We, therefore, call upon the 
Baptist to follow out his principles, as expressed in a 
fourth syllogism : — 

Syl. IV. Salvation is here made consequent upon 
baptism. The Baptist will not baptize an 
infant. 

Therefore — The Baptist secures the damnation of 
that infant. 

Now, we do not say that the Baptist believes the 
doctrines embodied in syllogisms II., III., IY. 
What we do say is, that the principles of interpreta- 
tion, which would, in these words of our Lord, give 
him a restriction of baptism to those exercising faith, 
shut him up to these doctrines. The same logic 
which, from these words, places a bar in the infant's 



230 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

way to the baptismal font, places a triple bar in his 
way to heaven. 

In view of these conclusions, which the Baptist 
will be as unwilling to admit as we, we say to him — 
There must be some fault in your logic. And this 
fault, if we mistake not, lies just here. You have 
entirely mistaken the true nature of the commission 
recorded in Mark, xvi. 15, 16. This is not the Apos- 
tles' commission, either to preach or to baptize. 
And we offer this Scriptural proof of our statement : 

Their commission to preach they had received long 
before. " And he (Jesus) goeth up into a mountain, 
and calleth unto him whom he would, and they came 
unto him, and he ordained twelve, that they should 
be with him, and that he might send them forth to 
preach" (Mark, iii. 13, 14). "These twelve Jesus 
sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not 
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the 
Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel, and as ye go, preach" 
(Matt. x. 5-7). Here is the commission to preach, 
of those to whom the words recorded in Mark, xvi. 
15, 16, were addressed. But a commission to preach, 
under certain restrictions. u When, therefore, the 
Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus 
made and baptized more disciples than John (though 
Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples)" 



281 



(John, iv. 1, 2.) This record refers to events which 
occurred near the commencement of our Lord's min- 
istry, and shortly after his ordination of the twelve, 
as recorded in Mark, iii. 13, 14. His disciples must- 
have received authority to baptize, at this time, or 
else they were here baptizing, under the very eyes of 
Jesus, without any authority so to do. 

If the commission recorded in Mark, xvi. 15, 16, 
is not the Apostles' commission to preach, nor to 
baptize, the question will be asked : — What, then, is 
it? We answer, it is just what it purports to be. 
Having before given them their commission to 
preach and baptize, with the restriction that they 
" go not in the way of Gentiles and enter no city 
of the Samaritans, but go to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel " alone, now that all power is given 
unto him, in heaven and in earth" (Matt, xxviii.), 
and by his death he has " broken down the middle 
wall of partition" (Eph. ii. 14) between the Jew and 
the Gentile ; has taken out of the way " the hand- 
writing of ordinances which was against us (Gen- 
tiles), nailing it to his cross" (Col. ii. 14), he takes off 
this restriction, and says — " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature" 

Applying now the principle of interpretation uni- 
versally admitted — that every part of an article 
must be interpreted with an eye to the scope and 



232 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

object of that article — we conclude that baptism is 
mentioned here, only incidentally ; our Lord taking 
it for granted that his Apostles were already fully 
instructed as to the proper subjects of baptism. 

Of the correctness of this view of the passage 
under examination, the corresponding records in 
Matthew and Luke afford the strongest confirma- 
tion. In Luke's report of our Lord's words, the 
subject of baptism is not even formally mentioned — 
"And that repentance and remission of sins should 
be preached in his name among all nations, begin- 
ning at Jerusalem." (Luke xxiv. 47.) And Mat- 
thew's report is in the words, " Go ye, therefore, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost ; Teaching them to observe all things, what- 
soever I have commanded you." (Matt, xxvii. 19, 20.) 
Here Christ expressly refers them to his instructions 
previously given, as their guide in the discharge of 
this very commission. What these instructions on 
the subject of baptism were, we shall inquire here- 
after. (See §§ 53, 54,) 

If we disregard this principle, that every part of an 
article must be interpreted with an eye to the scope and 
import of that article, we run into all kinds of absurd- 
ties. In the very passage under examination, Christ 
says, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos 



233 



pel to every creature." Creature is often used in 
the word of God, as a general term, including the 
lower orders of animals as well as man. Will the 
Baptist interpret this commission, so as to cover 
such preaching as that ascribed, in the Romish 
legends, to St. Anthony, viz. his preaching to the 
fishes ? 

All that our Saviour means to teach in his words — 
" He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. 
But he that believeth not, shall be damned " — is just 
what his words, in their most natural interpretation, 
seem to convey, viz ; That he who does believe, and 
is worthily baptized, shall be saved ; and then, to 
mark faith as essential, and baptism as not essential 
to salvation, he adds, reversing the form of his 
declaration, "he that believeth not, shall be damned." 
He is speaking of such, and of such only, as he 
sends his disciples to preach his, gospel to; the case 
of infants is in no way referred to in his declaration 
respecting either faith or baptism. If his disciples 
are to believe (as the Baptists, in common with our- 
selves, think they are,) that infants are saved with- 
out faith, he lias taught that doctrine on some other 
occasion, and he does not recall that teaching here. 
If his disciples are to believe that infants may pro- 
perly be baptized without faith, he has taught it on 



234 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

some other occasion, and he does not recall that 
teaching here. The two cases are precisely similar, 
and our interpretations of them must stand or fall 
together. 



BAPTISM AND CIKCUMCISION. 235 



CHAPTEE III 



47. Is the import of Baptism inconsistent with its administration to Infants ? 
Acts, xxii. 16, and Deut. xxx. 6. Gal. iii. 27, and Rom. ii. 28, 29. 1 Cor. adi. 13, 
and Rom. iy. 11. Col. ii. 12, and Col. ii. 11. 



§47. 

Baptist writers are accustomed to quote all that 
class of passages of Scripture, in which the spiritual 
import of baptism is taught us, as utterly inconsis- 
tent with the idea of its administration to infants. 
"We give below the most important of these, adding 
the substance of Dr. Carson's comments on them. 
These we have placed in the column to the left. In 
the right hand column, we have placed certain 
passages of similar character, respecting the ana- 
logous rite of circumcision, and added comments 
of our own, in Dr. Carson's strain of Bible criti- 
cism. 



236 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



BAPTISM. 

Acts XXII. 16. 

"And now, why tarriest thou? 
Arise, and be baptized, and 
wash away thy sins, calling 
on the name of the Lord." 



"Here we see baptism figura- 
tively washes away sins, and sup- 
poses that they are previously 
truly washed away. Could our 
opponents say to the parents of 
the infant about to be baptized, 
"Arise, and wash away the sins 
of thy infant?" Carson, p. 212. 

Gal. III. 27. 

"For as many of you as have 
been baptized into Christ, 
have put on Christ." 



CIRCUMCISION. 

JDeut. XXX. 6. 

" And the Lord thy God will cir- 
cumcise thine heart, and the 
heart of thy seed, to love 
the Lord thy God with all 
thy soul, that thou mayest 
live." 

Here we see that circumcision 
represents in figure the loving of 
the Lord our God, with all our 
soul. Could our opponents say 
to the parents of an infant about 
to be circumcised — Do you de- 
clare that this infant loves the 
Lord our God with all its soul ? 

Bom. II. 28, 29. 

"For he is not a Jew, which is 
one outwardly ; neither is 
that circumcision which is 
outward in the flesh : But he 
is a Jew which is one in- 
wardly, and circumcision is 
that of the heart, in the 
spirit, and not in the letter : 
whose praise is not of men, 
but of God." 



Nothing can be more express. Nothing can be more express. 



BAPTISM AND CERCTTMCISION. 



237 



BAPTISM. 



CIRCUMCISION. 



Here baptism is represented as Here circumcision is said to be 

implying a putting on of Christ, "of the heart, in the spirit, whose 

Surely this is peculiar to believers, praise is not of men, but of God." 

Infants cannot put on Christ." Infants cannot be thus circum- 

Carson, p. 213. cised. 



1 Cor. XII. 13. 

For by one Spirit are we all 
baptized into one body, whe- 
ther we be Jews or Gentiles, 
whether we be bond or free ; 
and have been all made to 
drink into one Spirit." 



"They who are baptized, are 
here supposed to belong already 
to the body of Christ; and for 
this reason they are baptized into 
it. None are here supposed to 
be baptized upon the expectation, 
or probability, or possibility that 
they may yet belong to that 
body. They are baptized into 
the body." Carson, pp. 212, 213. 



Rom. IV. 11. 

"And he received the sign of 
circumcision, a seal of the 
righteousness of the faith 
which he had, being yet un- 
circumcised, that he might 
be the father of all them 
that believe." 

Here circumcision is said to be 
the seal of the righteousness of a 
faith already possessed by the 
one circumcised; not a seal of 
the expectation, or probability, 
or possibility of that person's be- 
lieving at some future day. 



Col. II. 12. 



Col. II. 11. 



"Buried with him in baptism, "In whom also ye are circum- 
wherein also ye are risen cised, with the circumcision 



with him through the faith 



made without hands, in put- 



238 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



BAPTISM. 

of the operation of God, who 
raised him from the dead." 



"Here baptism is explained in 
a sense which suits believers only." 
They who are baptized "are view- 
ed as already risen with him 
through faith. Can anything be 
more express than this? Are 
infants risen with Christ through 
faith of the operation of God? 
If not, they are not among the 
number of those that were bap- 
tized." Carson, p. 212. 



CIRCUMCISION. 

ting off the body of the sins 
of the flesh, by the circum- 
cision of Christ." 

Here the circumcised are viewed 
as in their circumcision, putting 
off the body of the sins of the 
flesh. Can anything be more 
express than this? Was it true 
of infants, when preseDted by 
their parents, at eight days old, 
that they had put off the body of 
the sins of the flesh? If not, 
then must we conclude that they 
had no right to be counted among 
the number of the circumcised. 



And thus we might go on, quoting passage for 
passage with the Baptist; for just as explicitly as 
the Scriptures teach us the Spiritual import of bap- 
tism, just so explicitly do they teach a similar truth 
respecting circumcision. In no way could this be 
more clearly set forth than in Col. ii. 11, 12, the two 
passages last quoted, in which Paul makes use of 
the known and acknowledged spiritual import of the 
earlier rite, circumcision, to illustrate that of the 
later, haptism. And to mark their identity, in this 
particular, the more clearly, he calls baptism * the 
circumcision of Christ," or Christian circumcision. 



BAPTISM AND CIRCUMCISION. 239 

The very same course of reasoning, then, which 
from the passages of Scripture teaching the spiritual 
import of baptism, would give us a prohibition of 
infant baptism ; will, when applied to passages of 
similar import respecting circumcision, give us as 
positive a prohibition of infant circumcision. And 
yet, there is nothing clearer from Scripture, than 
that circumcision was, by God's direction, adminis- 
tered to the child eight days old (see Gen. xvii. 12). 
Here, then, as in the case of our Lord 's words, re- 
corded in Mark, xvi. 16, we say to the Baptist — 
Your argument proves too much, since it proves 
that which no man, with the Word of God in his 
hands, can admit to be true. There must, then, be 
some fault in that argument. 

That we may see just where the fallacy in the 
Baptist's argument lies, let us ask the question, On 
what principle was circumcision — a rite symbolizing 
regeneration, " the putting off of the body of the 
sins of the flesh," that change of heart, in conse- 
quence of which we " love the Lord our God with 
all our soul, that we may live" — administered to 
infants ? 

To this question, we answer : 

1. Circumcision, viewed as a symbolic rite, simply 
exhibited grace ; did not confer it. The doctrine of 
circumcisional regeneration, like the analogous doc- 



240 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

trine of baptismal regeneration, is a doctrine which 
finds no support from the Word of God. Now, 
grace may be exhibted, either (1), as something actu- 
tually bestowed of God ; or (2), as something brought 
near, by God's covenant relation to the recipient 
of the rite. To Abraham, circumcision was " the 
seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, 
yet being uncircumcised," i. e. of righteousness by 
faith, in actual possession. To Isaac, circumcised 
when eight days old (Gen. xxi. 4), it was, from the 
first dawn of his intelligent moral agency, a seal, or 
certification, of God's peculiar willingness to bestow 
upon him that same "righteousness of faith" by 
which his father Abraham was justified. And who 
will venture to say that this rite, in its symbolic im- 
port, was of less practical importance to Isaac than it 
was to Abraham ? 

2. Viewing circumcision as sealing or certifying 
an obligation on the part of the recipient; to 
Abraham, it was a seal of his obligation to " put off 
the body of the sins of the flesh," to walk by faith 
before God, an obligation which he had personally 
acknowledged in his reception of the rite. Not an 
obligation created by his reception of the rite, for 
the obligation is one growing out of Abraham's po- 
sition as a sinner, placed under a dispensation of 
grace; and viewed simply as an obligation, it 



BAPTISM AND CIRCUMCISION. 241 

would have been perfect had no rite been given as 
a certification thereto. In his circumcision, he had 
personally acknowledged that obligation, and thus 
rendered it the more solemnly binding upon him. 
To Isaac, it was a seal or certification of this same 
obligation, to walk by faith before God ; an obliga- 
tion which rested upon him as it did upon his father 
Abraham, as a sinner placed under a dispensation of 
grace, and an obligation which his believing father, 
by God's direction, acknowledged on his behalf. 
And who shall say that circumcision, viewed in this 
aspect of it, was of less importance in the one case 
than in the other. 

The fallacy in reasoning from the passages of 
Scripture which teach the spiritual import of circum- 
cision, in such a way as to prohibit its administration 
to infants, lies, 

1. In the groundless assumption that grace can be 
exhibited only as grace bestowed; whereas God 
chooses to exhibit it as grace brought near, or ready 
to be bestowed, also : the groundless assumption that 
a seal can be affixed to a deed only ; whereas God 
chooses (and men, in the ordinary business of life y 
act in the same way) to affix his seal to promises as 
well as deeds. 

2. In the unscriptural idea, that circumcision 
created the obligation to walk by faith, whereas it 

11 



242 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

was simply a public acknowledgment of an obligation 
already existing, and growing immediately out of 
man's relation to God, as a sinner placed under a 
dispensation of grace. Of just the same character 
is the fallacy of the Baptist's reasoning from a simi- 
lar class of passages respecting baptism, " the cir- 
cumcision of Christ." 

And here, let us correct the error into which 
many Baptist writers have fallen respecting the na- 
ture of circumcision : 

1. In representing it as belonging to the politico- 
ecclesiastical state of the Jews. Circumcision was 
given of God to Abraham, four hundred and thirty 
years before the politico-ecclesiastical state of the 
Jews was established ; and was given for the confirma- 
tion of a promise, in which we Christian Gentiles have 
as direct and deep an interest as ever had a Jew. 
"Now, to Abraham and his seed" (subsequently ex- 
plained by Paul, in the words — "And if ye be 
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs ac- 
cording to the promise" v. 29) " were the promises 
made. And this I say, that the covenant that was 
confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which 
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot dis- 
annul, that it should make the promise of none 
effect." (Gal. iii. 16, 17.) 

% In representing it as intended to be a mark of 



BAPTISM AND CIRCUMCISION. 243 

natural descent and temporal privileges, rather than 
of a religious relation. In proof of this, we are told 
that the Ishmaelites and Edomites were circumcised. 
" The Ishmaelites and Edomites were apostates from 
the faith of Abraham. And will it be pretended 
that the abuse of circumcision by apostates, proves 
that it was not the initiatory rite of the Church? 
Why not argue that since Mormons practise bap- 
tism, and yet do not enter into the Christian church, 
baptism cannot be an initiatory rite." * And what 
clearer proof can we have that circumcision was not 
intended as a mark of natural descent, than the fact 
that by God's appointment the Gentile proselyte was 
circumcised as well as the Jew? "And when a 
stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the 
Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circum- 
cised, and then let him come near and keep it ; and 
he shall be as one that is born in the land ; for no 
uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." (Ex. xii. 48.) 
And now, we ask — Shall we accept as proof of 
the " mind of the spirit," that baptism, under the 
new dispensation, shall not be administered to in- 
fants, an argument which proves at the same time, 
and just as decisively, that circumcision was not to 
be administered to infants under the Old Testament 
dispensation, when God from heaven has said, and 

1 N. L. Rice on Baptism, p. 220. 



244 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

placed it upon record before our eyes, " He that is 
eight days old shall be circumcised among you — the 
uncircumcised man-child shall be cut off from his 
people ; he hath broken my covenant." (Gen. xyii. 
13, 14, 



ESSENTIAL CHAEACTEE OF THE VISIBLE CHUECH. 245 



CHAPTEE IV 



THE CHUECH. 



§ 48. Essential Character of the visible Church. § 49. Nature of Church Mem- 
bership. 

Haying completed our examination of the argu- 
ments (in so far as they are arguments from the 
Scriptures), urged against infant baptism — before, 
turning to the particular examination of the argu- 
ments on the other side, and as preparatory to such 
examination, we ask the reader's attention to what 
the Word of God teaches us, respecting the essential 
character of the visible Church, and what is implied 
in Church membership. And here we insist the more 
strenuously upon a direct appeal to the Word of 
God, because, if we mistake not, unscriptural notions 
on these points are entertained even by many mem- 
bers of Pedo-Baptist churches. 



§ 48. The essential Character of the visible Church. 

The visible Church has, from its first institution, 
possessed the character of a school. 



246 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISMS. 

" What advantage, then," writes Paul, " hath the 
Jew ? Or what profit is there of circumcision ? Much 
every way : chiefly, because that unto them were 
committed the oracles of God." (Rom. iii. 1, 2,) i. e. 
the Holy Scriptures. 

For what purpose were these " oracles of God " 
committed unto the circumcised — the Old Testament 
Church? Let the Scriptures answer. God says: 
" Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great 
and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth 
shall be blessed in him. For I know him, that he 
will command his children and his household after 
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do 
justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring 
upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." 
(Gen. xviii. 18, 19.) By Moses God gives direc- 
tion to Israel : " And these words which I command 
thee this day, shall be in thy heart : And thou shalt 
teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk 
of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 
and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind 
them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as 
frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write 
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." 
(Deut. vi. 6-9.) Can any one doubt that under the 
Old Testament dispensation, the visible Church was 



NATURE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 247 

a school, in which disciples were to be trained for 
Heaven ; or that, bj God's direction, these disciples 
— scholars — were to be entered in this school in ear- 
liest childhood ? 

Under the JSTew Testament dispensation, the visi- 
ble Church retains this same character. "Go ye, 
therefore, and teach (i. e. make disciples — scholars — 
of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 
Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I 
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you 
always, even unto the end of the world." (Matt, 
xxviii. 19, 20.) Such is the commission of the 
Church, as given by her Lord and Master himself. 
So plainly is this set forth as the great office of the 
Church, in these words, that on this point all Pro- 
testant commentators agree. 



§ 49. Nature of Church Membership. 

The visible Church being, by God's appointment, 
his school^ the essential right of membership — the 
only right which is necessarily implied in affirming 
the Church membership of a person — is the right to 
instruction "in all things which God hath com- 
manded." There are other rights and privileges 



218 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

which, may belong to members of the Church upon 
certain conditions, and these may be spoken of 
(when speaking loosely) as rights of membership. 
But the right to instruction, and what is necessarily 
implied in it, can alone be regarded as an essential 
right of membership. 

This whole subject may be illustrated by the 
rights of citizenship under a civil government. As 
a citizen of the United States, I am entitled to the 
protection of my country against illegal or unjust 
oppression, both at home and abroad. As a free 
male citizen, over twenty-one years of age, I am 
entitled to vote in the election of those who are to 
be my civil rulers ; and both of these rights are 
often spoken of as rights of citizenship. My infant 
child, from the hour of its birth, is as truly a citizen 
of the United States as I am, and all the rights 
which are essential to citizenship must belong to it. 
Let any one, at home or abroad, attempt to oppress 
that child, and the civil government is bound to 
interpose for its protection, and secure to it the 
enjoyment of its rights. Yet that child, if a female, 
will never be entitled to vote ; and if a male, not 
until twenty-one years of age. Civil government is 
an institution for securing its subject in the enjoy- 
ment of his rights ; and hence the right to protection 
is the essential right of citizenship. The right to 



NATURE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 240 

vote, although often spoken of as a right of citizen- 
ship (when speaking loosely) is, in fact, a right 
which belongs to a citizen, upon certain conditions, 
which are prescribed in the Constitution of the 
country ; and a person to whom that right is denied 
(my infant child, for example), ,may be as truly a 
citizen as one to whom that right is granted. 

Just so in the visible Church. As a member of 
that Church, I am entitled to be " taught all things 
whatsoever Christ hath commanded." As a Reliev- 
ing member, I am entitled to a place at the Lord's 
table. This latter right is often spoken of as a right 
of membership, just as a right to vote is often 
spoken of as a right of citizenship. Yet, in fact, it is 
a right belonging to members upon certain condi- 
tions only — conditions prescribed in the Word of 
God. "Faith to discern the Lord's body" (1 Cor. 
xi. 29) is declared to be essential to a right partici- 
pation in the Lord's supper ; and until a member of 
the Church gives credible evidence of the possession 
of such faith, he cannot claim a place at the Lord's 
table, in virtue of his membership, any more than 
my infant child can claim a right to vote in virtue 
of his citizenship. 

As already remarked, the essential right of church 
memberhsip is the right to instruction " in all things 
whatsoever Christ hath commanded." Hence, in 



11 



x 



250 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

admitting an infant by baptism, we require the 
parent, already a believing member of that Church, 
to covenant with God and with his Church, 
that he " will teach the child to read God's Word ; 
that he will instruct it in the principles of our holy 
religion, as contained in the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testaments ; that he will set an example 
of piety and godliness before it ; and endeavor, by 
all the means of God's appointment, to bring up the 
child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
(Presbyterian Directory for Worship, chap, vii.) In 
the first instance, the religious instruction of the 
infant member is committed to the believing parent, 
in baptism, recognized as the representative of the 
Church, in his entering into a covenant with that 
Church : but in the case of the removal of the 
believing parent by death, then the duty of u teach- 
ing the child all things whatsoever Christ hath 
commanded," devolves upon the Church, and the 
Church is bound to see to its instruction. 

By neglecting the obvious distinction between the 
Church visible and the Church spiritual, and apply- 
ing what in Scripture is said of the latter to the for- 
mer, Baptist writers would make the Church visible 
to consist of believers only. Certainly such was not 
the case under the Old Testament dispensation : nor 
do the Scriptures give any countenance to the 



NATURE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 251 

attempt to make a change in this particular. The 
visible Church of Christ, according to his own decla- 
ration, " is as a net, which was cast into the sea, and 
gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, 
they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the 
good into vessels, but cast the bad away." (Matt, 
xiii. 47, 48.) 



252 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER Y. 

RELATION OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE NEW TO THAT 
UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT DISPENSATION. 

§ 50. The Charter of the Church unchanged. § 51. Scriptural representations. 
§ 52. The first Christian Church but the Old Testament Church purged of the 
Apostasy. 

§ 50. The Charter of the Church unchanged. 

The visible Church first assumed, distinctly, its 
form as a Church (i. e. a sealed company, separated 
from the world) under the operation of God's cov- 
enant with Abraham. u Before this time, the 
Church of God had existed in the patriarchal form. 
Every pious family was a little Church, of which the 
father was the officiating priest. By him the morn- 
ing and evening sacrifices were offered ; and he led 
the family devotions. Thus, we find that Abram, 
wherever he spent a night, built an altar and called 
upon the name of the Lord. And as every pious 
familv was a little Church, so were the children 



CHAPTER OF THE CHURCH UNCHANGED. 253 

members of that Church, trained by the father for 
God's service." 1 But it was under the operation of 
God's covenant with Abraham, that the visible 
Church first assumed, distinctly, its form as a Church. 

That covenant is recorded in Gen. xvii. 4-8. " As 
for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou 
shalt be the father of many nations. Neither shall 
thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name 
shall be Abraham ; for a father of many nations 
have I made thee. And I will make thee exceed- 
ing fruitful, and I will make nations of thee ; and 
kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish 
my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed 
after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting 
covenant ; to be a God unto thee and to thy seed 
after thee. And I will give unto thee and thy seed 
after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all 
the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; 
and I will be their God." 

This covenant is a record, at once, of God 's prom- 
ises to his Church, and of that Church's obligations. 
In some of its particulars, its promises and obliga- 
tions are addressed to Abraham's descendants 
through Isaac : — But understood as we are taught in 
God's words to interpret its terms, and as the men of 
faith in every age have understood it, from the time 

*N. L. Rice on Baptism, p. 213. 



254: THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

that Abraham, having " seen the promises afar off, 
embraced them, and confessed that he was a stranger 
and a pilgrim on the earth, and desired a better 
country, that is a heavenly " (Heb. xi. 13, 16), this 
covenant, in all its great promises and obligations, 
has constituted the charter of the Church of God. 

This truth is presented to us in many forms in the 
New Testament Scriptures. " Your father Abraham 
rejoiced to see my day," says Christ, " and he saw 
it, and was glad" (John, viii. 56). "Know ye, 
therefore," writes Paul, " that they which are of faith, 
the same are the children of Abraham. And the 
Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the 
heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel 
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be 
blessed. So, then, they which be of faith are bless- 
ed with faithful Abraham. For ye are all the chil- 
dren of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many 
of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put 
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is 
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor fe- 
male : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if 
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and 
heirs according to the promise" (Gal. iii. 7-9, 26-29). 
Christians are never called the children of Enoch, 
of Noah, of David, or of any other eminent believer, 
but they are called " children of Abraham " and 



CHARTER OF THE CHURCH UNCHANGED. 255 

" Abraham's seed." Evidently, therefore, they sus- 
tain to him a peculiar relation. What constitutes 
this relation ? I answer, the covenant into which 
God entered with Abraham, to which Paul refers in 
the passage just quoted, Christians are " heirs ac- 
cording to the promise." ' 

This matter Paul argues at some length, in his 
Epistle to the Komans. " And he (Abraham) received 
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteous- 
ness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircum- 
cised ; that he might be the father of all them that 
believe, though they be not circumcised, that right- 
eousness might be imputed unto them also ; and the 
father of the circumcision to them who are not of the 
circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of 
that faith of our father Abraham, which he had, being 
yet tin circumcised. For the promise that he should 
be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or his 
seed through the law, but through the righteousness 
of faith. Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by 
grace ; to the end the promise might be sure to all 
the seed : not to that only which is of the law, hut to 
that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is 
the father of us all : (as it is written, I have made 
thee a father of many nations) before him whom he 
believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and 

1 N. L. Rice on Baptism, p. 196. 



256 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

calleth the things which be not as though they were. 
They which are the children of the flesh, these are 
not the children of God ; but the children of the 
promise, are counted for the seed. 77 (Rom. iv. 11-13, 
16, 17; ix. 8.) 

After reading such expositions of God's covenant 
as these, can any one doubt that it is in fulfillment 
of God's promise to Abraham, that he should be 
" the father of many nations" " the heir of the 
world" the Church received her great commission, 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature (Mark, xvi. 15)? Is the promise 
which accompanied that commission, " Lo, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt, 
xxviii. 20), anything else than the promise of that 
covenant, " I will establish my covenant between 
me and thee, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God 
unto thee and thy seed after thee ?" (Gen. xvii. 7.) 

Hence, we say, this covenant of God with Abra- 
ham, according to the plain representations of Scrip- 
ture, is as truly the charter of the Church, i. e. the 
written instrument, declaring the privileges and ob- 
ligations of the Church now, as it ever was under 
the Old Testament dispensation. And those that 
become Christ's do thereby become "Abraham's 
seed according to the promise," in what has ever 
been the true sense of that promise. 



SCRIPTURAL REPRESENTATIONS. 257 



§ 51. Scriptural Representations. 

From among many Scriptural representations of 
the nature of the change which took place in the 
visible Church, in the days of Christ and his Apos- 
tles, we will ask the reader's attention to two only: 
one from Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the other 
from his Epistle to the Ephesians. 

Romans, xi. 18-26. Yer. 18. " Boast not against the 
branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not 
the root, but the root thee. 

19. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken 

off, that I might be graffed in. 

20. Well ; because of unbelief, they were broken 

off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high- 
minded, but fear : 

21. For if God spared not the natural branches, take 

heed lest he also spare not thee. 

22. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of 

God ; on them which fell, severity ; but 
toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his 
goodness : otherwise thou also shalt be cut 
off. 

23. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, 



258 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

shall be graffed in : for God is able to graff 
them in again. 

24. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which 

is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary 
to nature into a good olive tree, how much 
more shall these, which be the natural 
branches, be graffed into their own olive 
tree. 

25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be 

ignorant of this mystery (lest ye should be 
wise in your own conceits) that blindness in 
part is happened to Israel, until the fullness 
of the Gentiles be come in. 

26. And so, all Israel shall be saved." 

In this passage, by " the wild " and " good olive 
trees," the Apostle cannot mean the natural state of 
the parties before God ; for he has fully proved, in 
a previous part of this epistle, that in this respect, 
between the Jew and the Gentile, there is no differ- 
ence. Neither can he mean, by the "good olive 
tree," the politico-ecclesiastical state established in 
the time of Moses; for that was then "vanishing 
away ;" and none more zealously than Paul resisted 
every attempt of Judaizing teachers, to lay its yoke 
upon the Gentiles. Eor can the " good olive tree " 
mean the true spiritual Church of God ; for, from 



SCRIPTURAL REPRESENTATIONS. 259 

that, these Jews were not cut off, for the simple 
reason that they were never members of it, as our 
Lord teaches in his words: "If ye were Abra- 
ham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 
But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told 
you the truth, which I have heard of God : this did 
not Abraham. Ye are of your father the devil, and 
the lusts of your father ye will do." (John, viii. 39, 
40, U. 

By the " good olive tree," Paul can mean nothing 
but the visible Church. And what says he of it? 
That the " good olive tree " was cut down or rooted 
up? That it had withered, trunk and branch, or 
was no longer the care of the divine planter? 
Nothing like it. He asserts the continuance of the 
" good olive tree " in life and vigor ; the excision of 
some worthless branches, and the insertion of new 
ones in their stead. "Thou" says he, addressing 
the Gentile, " partakest of the root and fatness of the 
olive tree." Translate this into less figurative lan- 
guage, and what is its import? That the visible 
Church of God subsists without injury through the 
change of dispensation and of members. Branches 
indeed may be cut off, but the rooted trunk stands 
firm, and other branches occupy the place of those 
which are lopped away. The Jews are cast out 
of the Church, but the Church perishes not with 



260 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

them. There was still left the trunk of the old olive 
tree; there was still fatness in its roots; it stands in 
the same fertile soil, the covenant of God ; and the 
admission of the Gentiles into the room of the 
excommunicated Jews makes them a part of that 
covenant Church ; as branches grafted into the olive 
tree, and nourishing in its fatness, are identified 
with the tree." l 

But this is not all. The Apostle, in the light of 
prophecy, foresees the restoration of the Jews. 
These, says he, the " natural branches shall be grafted 
in again — shall be graffed into their own olive tree." 
Their own olive tree, then, must have been pre- 
served. Dropping the figure : they shall be brought 
into the same Church in which the Gentile Chris- 
tians now are ; and this is their own Church. In 
coming into it, they are but coming back again into 
their own Church. How can this be, unless the 
visible Church be essentially one and the same 
under both dispensations ? 

Eph. ii. 11-14, 19-22. Yer. 11. "Wherefore, remem- 
ber, that ye being in time past Gentiles in 
the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by 
that which is called the circumcision in the 
flesh made by hands ; 

1 J. M. Mason's Works, vol. ii., p. 309. 



SCRIPTURAL REPRESENTATIONS. 261 

12. That at that time, ye were without Christ, being 

aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and 
strangers from the covenants of promise, hav- 
ing no hope, and without God in the world. 

13. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometime 

were far off, are made nigh, by the blood of 
Christ. 

14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, 

and hath broken down the middle wall of 
partition between us." 

Can there be any doubt what " commonwealth of 
Israel " it is, in which the Gentiles, once " aliens," 
are now made " citizens ? " Can it be any other than 
the visible Church to which Israel belonged? or 
what " covenants of promise," to which they, " once 
strangers," have been " brought nigh ? " Can it be 
any other than the " covenants of promise " upon 
which God's Church is built? Or in what the 
Gentile and the Jew have now been made "both 
one," by " breaking down the middle wall of parti- 
tion between them ? " Can it be anything else than 
the visible Church of God ? 

The Apostle proceeds : — Yer. 19. — <; ISTow, there- 
fore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but 
fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household 



262 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

of God." Fellow-citizens with what saints? The 
Old Testament saints, beyond a question ; fellow-citi- 
zens with Abraham, Moses, David and Isaiah. Of 
what " household of God " does the Apostle speak ? 
Of the household to which these Old Testament 
saints belonged. Yer. 20.—" And are built upon 
the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone ; 21. In 
whom all the building, fitly framed together, grow- 
eth into a holy temple in the Lord. 22. In whom 
ye also are builded together, for a habitation of God 
through the Spirit." Of what "holy temple" does 
the Apostle here speak ? Of the Church spiritual ? 
No. For of the Church spiritual he declares, " other 
foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is 
Christ Jesus" (1. Cor. iii. 2). The visible Church 
alone, can be said to be built upon " the foundation 
of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief corner-stone." And it is only the one 
visible Church which has existed under both the Old 
and the New Testament dispensations, that can be 
said to embrace in its foundations, at once, the 
Apostles and Prophets. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH PURGED. 263 



§ 52. The first Christian Church but the Old Testa- 
ment Church purged of the Apostasy. 

The essential unity of the Church, under the Old 
and New Testament dispensations, appears just as 
plainly in the history of "The Acts," as it does in 
Paul 's Epistles. The first Christian Church existed 
before the day of Pentecost. " And in those days 
Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said 
(the number of the names together were about a 
hundred and twenty), men and brethren :" (Acts i. 15, 
16). These hundred and twenty disciples, brethren, 
formed the first Christian Church ever existing on 
earth ; and we find them exercising one of the high- 
est functions of a Church, in the choice of an Apos- 
tle in the place of Judas (see Acts, i. 16-26). This 
Church it was that was gathered in Jerusalem, on 
the day of Pentecost, " And when the day of Pente- 
cost was fully come, they were all with one accord in 
one place" (Acts, ii. 1). And to this Church the three 
thousand converted on the day of Pentecost were 
added : " Then they that gladly received the Word 
were baptized ; and the same day there were added 
unto them about three thousand souls." (Acts, ii. 41.) 

Now, these " hundred and twenty," including the 
Apostles, never received Christian baptism. They 



264: THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

had been baptized, in all probability, by John, or by 
Christ's disciples ; but this baptism, as has been 
shown in § 29, and as all modern Baptist writers ad- 
mit, was not Christian baptism ; nor could it take the 
place of Christian baptism, as Paul decides in the case 
of certain disciples at Ephesus (see Acts, xix. 1-5). 
They were also baptized " with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire" (Acts ii. 2-4) : but let the reader notice, 
(1,) they were a Church before this baptism, and ex- 
ercised the functions of a Church in the choice of an 
Apostle ; and (2,) baptism with the Holy Ghost was 
not Christian baptism, in the distinctive sense of that 
term, nor could it take the place of Christian baptism, 
as is evident from Peter's administering Christian 
baptism to those in the house of Cornelius, after they 
had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. (See Acts, 
x. M-48.) 

Admitting that these " hundred and twenty" never 
received Christian baptism, Mr. Alex. Campbell at- 
tempts to evade the force of the argument therefrom, 
by saying, " When a person is appointed by God to 
set up an institution, he is not himself to be regard- 
ed as a subject of that institution. Some one must 
commence the institution — there must be some one 
to commence Christian baptism ; that could not be 
done till Jesus had died, was buried, and rose again." 
"This evasion of the difficulty will not answer. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH PURGED. 265 

Abraham set up the institution of circumcision, and 
yet he was himself circumcised. Aaron, the first 
Jewish high priest, was consecrated just as were his 
successors. Why, then, did not these hundred and 
twenty receive Christian baptism." 1 

To this question we can give but one answer, if 
we answer it in accordance with the teachings of 
Scripture. The Jewish Church, as a body, had apos- 
tatized from God ; and this, their apostasy, was 
consummated by the crucifixion of Christ, their 
Messiah. This crowning act of apostasy being the 
act of their rulers, was regarded by God, and treated, 
as the act of the people at large. " The God of our 
fathers hath glorified his son Jesus ; whom ye deliv- 
ered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, 
when he was determined to let hira go ; But ye de- 
nied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a mur- 
derer to be granted unto you ' and killed the Prince 
of Life, — And now, brethren, I wot that through ig- 
norance ye did it, as did also your rulers" (Acts, iii. 
13, 14, 15, 17), is Peter's address to the Jews, at the 
gate of the temple, shortly after the day of Pente- 
cost. In consequence of this apostasy, the Jewish 
Church, as a body, was cut off. 

Ere this apostasy was consummated, however, a 



1 N. L. Rice on Baptism, p. 208. 
12 



266 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

few had received the Messiah, and " believed on his 
name ; and to them had he given power to become 
the sons of God" (John, i. 12). They had no part in 
the guilty act which filled np the measure of the in- 
iquity of their people (Matt, xxiii. 32). And, there- 
fore, in the excision of that people, they were not 
included. God separated here, as he did in the days 
of Noah, and in the case of Sodom. The apostasy 
was cut off; the election remained. These "hun- 
dred and twenty" had been initiated into the 
Church, at eight days old, by circumcision ; a rite 
which, from the days of Abraham to the day of 
Pentecost, was the only initiatory rite of the Church 
of God (for nothing is more certain than that neither 
the " baptism of John," nor that of Christ's disciples 
whilst their master remained with them, were initia- 
tory rites into any Church). At the time of the cru- 
cifixion, they were members of the Church, in good 
standing, and they never lost that standing. The 
excision of "the apostasy," simply purged the 
Church of God ; not affecting the integrity of that 
Church at all. The part not exscinded, remained, 
constituting the true, visible Church of God on 
earth. And around this purged Old Testament 
Church, as its nucleus, the ISTew Testament Church 
was collected. Since the day of Pentecost, and the 
institution of Christian baptism, that baptism is the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH PURGED. 267 

initiatory rite into the Church of God ; and all who 
enter that Church (including the circumcised Jews, 
who had lost their church-standing by being exscind- 
ed with " the Apostasy), must receive it. These 
f hundred and twenty" never received it, for the 
simple and sufficient reason that they were already in 
the Church, inducted in infancy by circumcision, and 
they had no need to enter. 

How . perfectly does this history in the book of 
Acts agree with the representations given us in other 
portions of Scripture, especially by Paul in his va- 
rious Epistles. 



THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTEK YI. 

§ 53. Christ's Recognition of Infant Membership in the Church. Matt. xix. 13-15. 
Mark, x. 13-16. Luke, xviii. 15-17. § 54. Christ's re-commission of Peter. 
John, xxi. 15. § 55. Peter's preaching of Christian Baptism. Acts, ii. 38, 39, and 
iii. 24-26. § 56. Significant Silence of the Jews. 

§ 53. Matt. XIX. 13-15. Mark, X. 13-16. Luke, 
XYIII. 15-17. 

Matt. xix. Yer. 13. "Then were brought unto him 
little children, that he should put his hands 
on them, and pray ; and his disciples rebuked 
them. 

14. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid 

them not to come unto me ; for of such is 
the kingdom of Heaven. 

15. And he laid his hands on them, and departed 

thence." 

Mark, x. Yer. 13. " And they brought young chil- 
dren to him, that he should touch them ; and 
his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 

14. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, 



Christ's recognition of infant membership. 269 

and said unto them, Suffer the little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for 
of such is the kingdom of God. 

15. Verity, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not 

receive the kingdom of God as a little child, 
he shall not enter therein. 

16. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands 

upon them, and blessed them." 
Luke, xviii. Ver. 15. " And they brought unto him 
also infants, that he should touch them ; but 
when his disciples saw it, they rebuked 
them. 

16. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, 

Suffer little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom 
of God. 

17. Verity I say unto you, Whosoever shall not 

receive the kingdom of God as a little child, 
shall in nowise enter therein." 

As preliminary to an exposition of our Lord's 
words, "For of such is the kingdom of Heaven, 
(God)," we ask the reader to remark : 

1. The persons brought to Jesus were little chil- 
dren, in the proper sense of that phrase. Matthew 
styles them " little children ;" Mark, " young chil- 
dren," and Luke, "infants," (brephe); and Mark 



270 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

records the fact, that " he took them tip in his arms, 
and blessed them." 

2. These infants were brought to Jesus, " that he 
should put his hands on them, and pray," (Matt.); 
"put his hands upon them, and bless them," (Mark); 
and not for bodily healing, as Dr. Gill imagines. 

3. Our Lord's words must be understood in a 
sense in which they will convey a rebuke to his 
disciples ; and a rebuke correspondent to the con- 
duct, on their part, which has called forth that 
rebuke. The offence committed by his disciples 
must have been a serious offence in our Lord's 
account ; for this is the only instance, in the whole 
course of his life, in which we read of him, "the 
meek and lowly" one, that "he was much dis- 
pleased " with his disciples. As the displeasure of 
Jesus must have been a righteous displeasure, 
nothing short of a rebuke will be the proper expres- 
sion of it." 

Turn we now to an examination of our Lord's 
words, "for of such is the kingdom of Heaven, 
(God)." 

1. " Kingdom of Heaven, (God)" The word here 
translated kingdom, is a word of more extensive 
signification than our English word kingdom; being 
used, as Campbell remarks, to express the ideas 
expressed, by our two words reign and kingdom. 



Christ's recognition of infant membership. 271 

Wherever it is used in connection with such phrases 
as "is come unto you," "is at hand," or the like, it 
is evidently to be understood in the sense of Mes- 
siah's reign, as in Matt. iii. 2. "Repent ye, for the 
kingdom of Heaven is at hand." In other instances, 
it is to be understood in the proper sense of our Eng- 
lish word, kingdom ; and it is used to designate " the 
religious constitution, under which subjects were to 
be gathered to God by his Son, and a society to be 
formed, which was to subsist, first, in more imper- 
fect circumstances on earth, but afterwards to 
appear complete in the world of glory." (Dod- 
dridge.) Hence, "the kingdom of Heaven, or of 
God," is sometimes used as equivalent to the visible 
Church on earth, as in Matt. xiii. 47. "The kingdom 
of Heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the 
sea, and gathered of every kind." At other times, 
it is used to signify the Church of God in her state 
of glory, as in 1 Cor. xv. 50. "Now this I say, 
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God." 

2. " Of such" On this phrase, Dr. Carson remarks : 
"'The kingdom of Heaven is of suchj cannot pos- 
sibly mean that the kingdom of Heaven is of them. 
The term such does not signify identity, cannot sig- 
nify identity, but likeness." l 

1 Carson on Baptism, p. 200. 



272 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

Let "us see if Scriptural usage will bear out this 
positive assertion of Dr. Carson. Rom. i. 23. "Who 
knowing the judgment of God, that they which 
commit such things" (i. e., the very crimes which. 
Paul has just before specified), " are worthy of 
death; not only do the same, but have pleasure in 
them that do them." 1 Cor. v. 11. "But now, I 
have written unto you, not to keep company, if any 
man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or 
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, 
or an extortioner, with such an one " (i. e., with the 
very persons specified), "no, not to eat." Gal. v. 21. 
"Envyings, murders, re veilings, drunkenness, and 
such like" (here, such signifies likeness ; but the word 
used in the Greek is different from the word used by 
our Lord, in the passage under examination), "of the 
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in 
time past, that they which do such things " (here, 
the word used is the same with that used by our 
Lord, and evidently means, these very things, envy- 
ings, murders, and such like), "shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God." 1 Tim. vi. 4, 5. "He is proud, 
knowing nothing, but doting about questions and 
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, 
evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of cor- 
rupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing 
that gain is godliness. From such " (i. e., from the 



chkist's recognition of infant membership. 273 

very persons just described), "withdraw thyself." 
3 Jno. vii. 8. "Because that for his name's sake they 
went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We 
therefore ought to receive such " (i. e., these very 
persons, and others like them), "that we might be 
fellow helpers to the truth." Acts xix. 25. "Whom 
he," Demetrius, " called together, with men of like 
occupation " (the word here translated like is the 
same rendered such in the passage under examina- 
tion; and "like occupation" here means of the occu- 
pation of Demetrius, as is evident from what fol- 
lows), "and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we 
have our wealth." These instances of the use of this 
phrase "of such" have not been selected to serve a 
purpose ; but turning to Robinson's New Testament 
Lexicon, we have given all the instances there cited, 
excepting one, viz. Mark, ix. 37, a passage very 
similar to the one under examination. And now we 
ask the reader, does Scriptural usage give any coun- 
tenance to Dr. Carson's remark, "'The kingdom of 
Heaven is of such] cannot possibly mean that the 
kingdom of Heaven is of themV On the contrary, 
Scriptural usage will allow us to understand "the 
kingdom of Heaven is of such" in no other way than 
either the kingdom of Heaven is of them, or of them 
and those like them." 

Dr. Gill explains the passage we are examining as 
12* 



274 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

follows (and the explanation of every Baptist expos- 
itor, whose writings we have seen, is substantially 
the same), " It is, as if our Lord would say, don't 
drive away these children from my person and pre- 
sence ; they are lively emblems of the proper sub- 
jects of a Gospel Church-state, and of such as shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; by these I may in- 
struct and point out to you what converted persons 
should be, who have a place in my Church below, 
and expect to enter into my kingdom and glory 
above — they are, or ought to be, like such children, 
harmless and inoffensive, free from rancor and 
malice." 

To this exposition we object: 1, It assigns to the 
phrase " of such" an unusual meaning, and one 
which, we believe, it never has in Scripture. 2, It 
makes our Lord say that which is in no way perti- 
nent to the occasion. The children were brought to 
him expressly, that he might pray for and bless 
them. 3, Thus understood, our Lord's words convey 
no reproof to his disciples, and yet ihej are spoken 
when he is u much displeased " with them. 

We would understand by " the kingdom of heaven 
or God" here, the visible Church; and most Baptist 
writers agree with us on this point. That Church, 
however, was the Old Testament Church, for " the 
day of Pentecost had not yet come. These children 



575 



being the children of Jewish parents, had, doubtless, 
been introduced as infant members into that Church, 
by their reception of circumcision when eight days 
old, and this, it is admitted on all hands, was by di- 
vine appointment. If, now, we understand our 
Lord's words " for of such is the kingdom of heaven " 
simply to assert the church-membership of these 
" little ones, infants," they assert nothing but what is 
confessedly a fact ; and just the very fact, of all others, 
which is pertinent to the occasion. What more con- 
clusive reason can he assign, why parents should be 
encouraged to bring their infant children to him, the 
Messiah, the Son of God, that he may bless them, 
than that God himself has included them in his pre- 
cious covenant? What more solemn rebuke can he 
administer to his disciples than by saying in sub- 
stance, God does not disdain to notice these little 
ones ; and in casting them off ye are making your- 
selves wiser than God, and setting youselves in op- 
position to him. 

Thus understanding our Lord's words, how natu- 
rally does the declaration follow, "Yerily, I say 
unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom 
of God, as a little child" (i. e. in the teachable spirit 
of a little child), " he shall not enter therein." It 
was the overweening confidence of the disciples in 
their own judgment, which had led them to do that 



276 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

for which our Lord has reproved them ; because they 
were guided by their own sense of what was fit and 
proper, rather than by the plain instructions of God's 
Word, they had fallen into this error. And now, 
he would guard them against such danger for the 
future. 

But, after all, it may be said, these children were 
not baptized. Certainly not. Christian baptisms had 
not then been instituted. These infants were, in 
virtue of their circumcision, members of the visible 
Church (the Jewish Church, not as yet finally cast 
off, for the Jews had not then, by the crucifixion of 
their Messiah, " filled up the measure of their ini- 
quities"), and on this account, even had Christian 
baptism then been practised, there would have been 
no propriety in administering it to them. 

In the words of the Lord Jesus, " Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven" we have his dis- 
tinct and emphatic recognition of infant membership 
in the Church of God (the Old Testament Church it 
is true, but not on that account the less the Church 
of God) as existing toward the close of his public 
ministry, and this, without the slightest intimation 
that such membership was ever to cease in that 
Church. On the contrary, the recognition is made 
in circumstanees strongly implying its continuance, 



cheist's re- commission of peter. 277 

since it is made in rebuking the disposition mani- 
fested by his disciples, those by whom the requisite 
changes in that Church were to be carried forward 
and perfected, to account such membership of little 
value. 

§ 54. John, XXI. 15. 

"So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon 
Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou 
me more than these ? He saith unto him : 
Yea, Lord : thou knowest that I love thee. 
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." 

It is agreed on all hands that in these words and 
those recorded in the two verses immediately follow- 
ing, we have " our Lord's renewal of Peter's appoint- 
ment to the ministerial and apostolic office." Peter's 
denial of his master " had, undoubtedly, rendered him 
unworthy of the Apostleship ; for how could he be 
capable of instructing others in the faith, who had 
basely revolted from it? He had been made an 
Apostle, but it was along with Judas, and from the 
time when he had abandoned his post, he had like- 
wise been deprived of the honor of Apostleship. 
Now, therefore, the liberty as well as authority of 
teaching is restored to him. Such a restoration was 



278 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

necessary, both for Peter and for his hearers. For 
Peter, that he might the more boldly execute his 
office, being assured of the calling with which 
Christ had again invested him. For his hearers, 
that the stain which attached to his person, might 
not be the occasion of despising the Gospel. To us, 
also, in the present day, it is of very great import- 
ance that Peter comes forth to us as a new man, from 
whom the disgrace that might have lessened his 
authority has been removed" (Calvin's Commen- 
tary). 

Let the reader notice now the terms in which this 
renewal of Peter's apostolic authority is first given 
— " Feed my lambs." And let him remember, at 
the same time, that in the Old Testament Scriptures, 
Christ is described as one who " shall feed his flock 
like a shepherd ; shall gather the lambs with his 
arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently 
lead those that are with young." (Isa. xl. 11.) And 
let him remember, too, the rebuke which, a little 
while before, Christ has given Peter, in common 
with the other disciples, in his words, " Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Mark, x. 14.) 
And then ask himself, How must Peter have under- 
stood his Lord's words — "Feed my lambs?" Do 
they not contain a very strong intimation, to say the 



peter's preaching of christian baptism. 279 

least of it, that infant-membership is to continue 
in the Church of God, under Peter's apostleship? 
Are they not unaccountable, on the supposition that 
such membership is, from that time, to cease? 

§ 55. Acts, II. 38, 39; III. 24-26. 

Acts, ii. 38, 39. " Then Peter said unto them, Re- 
pent, and be hwptized every one of you in 
the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of 
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. For the promise is to you and to your 
children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call." 

Acts, iii. 24—26. " Yea, and all the prophets from 
Samuel, and those that follow after, as many 
as have spoken, have likewise foretold of 
these days. Ye are the children of the pro- 
phets, and of the covenant which God made 
with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And 
in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth 
be blessed. Unto you first, God having raised 
up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you in 
turning away every one of you from his ini- 
quities." 

The passage first quoted above is the conclusion 



280 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

of Peter's address to the multitude, on the Day of 
Pentecost. The other is the conclusion of a public 
address of his, delivered a few days later, in very 
similar circumstances. In each case, he is evidently 
urging upon his hearers an immediate repentance, 
for the reason that this was emphatically their day 
of grraee, and a day of grace granted them in fulfill- 
ment of God's covenant with Abraham. (Acts, iii. 
25, 26.) 

When, then, in his first address, he says, " the 
promise is to you and to your children, and to all 
that are afar off," to what promise does he refer? 
Undoubtedly, we think, to the promise which God 
had included in his covenant with Abraham. And 
when we turn to that promise, we find it answering, 
in every particular, to Peter's words, as here re- 
corded. " And I will establish my covenant between 
me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their gene- 
rations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God 
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. xvii. 7.) 
There is the promise, " to you and to your children ;" 
" for a father of many nations have I made thee." 
(Gen. xvii. 5.) There is the promise, as Paul ex- 
plains it in Rom. iv. 13-17, " to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." 

Let the reader notice now, that this address was 
made by Peter, on the occasion when Christian 



281 



baptism was first preached to the people. That it 
was addressed exclusively to Jews and Jewish pro- 
selytes, at Jerusalem, and by Peter, himself a Jew. 
That the only way into the Church of Christ, of 
which any of the parties had a knowledge then, was 
through the Old Testament Church, for it was not 
until some time after this, at the house of Cornelius, 
that the first Gentile was received directly into the 
Church ; and from Peter's conduct on that occasion, 
it is evident, that up to that time, neither he nor the 
other apostles understood God's purposes in this par- 
ticular. And we ask, is not Peter's paraphrase of 
God's promise to Abraham, " for the promise is to 
you and to your children," unaccountable, if the ini- 
tiatory rite into the Church of God is now, for the 
first time, to be refused to the children of the 
believer? How must the Jews have understood 
Peter, when he calls upon them, by repentance and 
baptism, to enter the Christian Church, assigning as 
the special reason why they should do so, God's 
promise to Abraham, which was made, says he, " to 
you and to your children?" It would be strange 
indeed, had they understood him to speak of any 
other way than that in which they and their fathers 
had always entered into the Church of God, from 
the time that promise was given — i. 0., the infant 



282 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

children entering into company with the believing 
parent. 

§ 56. Significant silence of the Jews. 

Supposing that the change in the constitution of 
the Church of God, for which the Baptist contends — 
viz., the abrogation of infant membership in that 
Church — had been made, the question at once arises, 
" How must such a measure have operated upon the 
feelings of a believing Jew ?" 

" Tenacious, in a high degree, of their peculiari- 
ties, regarding their relation to Abraham as momen- 
tous to their individual happiness, and as the most 
prominent feature of their national glory ; knowing, 
too, that their children were comprised with them- 
selves in the covenant of God ; it is not possible that 
the Hebrews could have submitted, without reluc- 
tance, to a constitution which was to strip them of 
their favorite privilege, to dissever their tenderest 
ties, to blot the names of their little ones out of the 
register of God's people, to treat them afterwards, 
from generation to generation, as the little ones of 
the heathen man and the publican ! On every other 
prerogative, real or imaginary, their suspicion was 
awake, their zeal was inflammable, their passions 



SIGNIFICANT SILENCE OF THE JEWS. 283 

intractable; but toward this, their grand prerog- 
ative, they evince a tameness which required them 
to forget, at once, that they were men, and that they 
were Jews. 

" Search the records of the New Testament from 
one end to the other, and you will not find the trace 
of a remonstrance, an object, or a difficulty on this 
subject, from the mouth of a believing or an unbeliev- 
ing Israelite ! The former never parted with a tittle 
of even the Mosaic law, till the will of God was so 
clearly demonstrated as to remove every doubt ; the 
latter lay constaotly in wait for matter of accusation 
against the Christians. Nothing could have prompt- 
ed him to louder clamor, to fiercer resistance, or to 
heavier charges, than an attempt to overturn a funda- 
mental principle of the covenant with Abraham ; 
nothing could have more startled and distressed the 
meek and modest disciple. Yet that attempt is 
made ; that fundamental principle of the covenant 
with Abraham is overturned ; and not a friend com- 
plains, nor a foe resents ! What miracle of enchant- 
ment has so instantaneously relieved the conscience 
of the one, and calmed the wrath of the other? 
Where is that wayward vanity, that captious criti- 
cism, that combustible temperament, that insidious, 
implacable, restless enmity, which by night and by 



284 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

day, in country and in town, haunted the steps of the 
Apostles, and treasured up actions, words, looks, for 
the hour of convenient vengeance ? All gone ; dis- 
sipated in a moment ! The proud and persecuting 
Pharisee rages at the name of Jesus Christ ; rights 
for his traditions and his phylacteries ; and utters not 
a syllable of dissent from a step which completely 
annihilates the covenant with Abraham ! that very 
covenant from which he professes to derive his 
whole importance ! We can believe a good deal, but 
not quite so much as this. 

" Should it be alleged that the Jews did probably 
oppose the exclusion of their infants from the New 
Testament Church, although the sacred writers have 
omitted to mention it : we reply, 

"That although many things have happened 
which were never recorded — and, therefore, that the 
mere silence of an historian is not, in itself, conclu- 
sive against their existence — yet no man may assume, 
as proof, the existence of a fact which is unsupported 
by either history or tradition. On this ground, the 
plea which we have stopped to notice is perfectly 
nugatory. 

"In the present case, however, the probabilities 
look all the other way. We mean, that if the Jews 
had made the opposition, which, on the supposition 



SIGNIFICANT SILENCE OF THE JEWS. 285 

we are combating, it is inconceivable they should 
not have made, it would have been so interwoven 
with the origin, constitution, progress and transac- 
tions of the primitive Church, as to have rendered an 
omission of it almost impossible. 

" The question about circumcision and the obliga- 
tion of the Gentile converts to keep the law of 
Moses, shook the Churches to their centre ; and was 
not put at rest but by a final decision of the Apos- 
tles and elders (see Acts, xv.). Now, as circumcision 
was the seal of the Abrahamic covenant, which ex- 
pressly constituted infants members of the Church, 
is it to be imagined that so hot a controversy should 
be kindled about the ensealing rite, and none at all 
about the privilege sealed ? or that a record should 
have been carefully preserved of the disputes and 
decision concerning the sign, and no record at all 
kept of the thing signified, which imparted to the 
former all its interest and value ? 

" It is, therefore, utterly incredible that the resist- 
ance of the Jews to the Christian arrangement for 
shutting out their children from the Church of God, 
should have passed unnoticed. But no notice of any 
such resistance is contained in the New Testament. 
The conclusion is, that no such resistance was ever 
offered : and the conclusion from this again is, that 



286 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

no cause for it ever existed ; that is, that the infants 
of professing parents were considered as holding, 
under the new economy, the same place and rela- 
tion which the j held under the old." 1 

1 J. M. Mason's Works, vol ii. pp. Z61-S11. 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED. 287 



CHAPTER VII. 

INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED BY GIVING TO CHILDREN 
THE PECULIAR TITLES BELONGING TO CHURCH MEM- 
BERS. 

§ 5T. Names given to Church Members in Scripture. § 58. Eph. i. 1, and vi. 1-3 ; 
Col. i. 1, 2, and iii. 20. § 59. Titus, i. 6. § 60. 1 Cor. vii. 12-14. 

§ 57. Names given to Church Members in the days 
of Christ and the Apostles. 

The name " Christian" was not given to the fol- 
lowers of Jesus, until some years after the death of 
our Lord (see Acts, xi. 26). It eventually became 
the common name by which the members of the 
Church were designated, yet such was not the case 
during the days of the Apostles. It is a name used 
but twice in the whole ISTew Testament; once by 
Agrippa, when he addresses Paul, "Almost thou 
persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts, xxvi. 28), 
and once by Peter, in his first epistle, written about 
A, D. 63, " Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let 
him not be ashamed " (1 Peter, iv. 16). 



288 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

The names which the Jews gave them, were in- 
tended as names of reproach ; such as Galileans 
(Acts, ii. 7), and JFazarines (Acts, xxiv. 5). 

The names which Christians assumed for them- 
selves, and by which they are ordinarily designated 
in the New Testament Scriptures, are, disciples 
(Acts, i. 15), brethren (Acts, i. 16), faithful or believ- 
ers (Acts, ii. 44), saints or holy ones (Acts, ix. 13), 
elect (2 John, i.), and people of God (1 Peter, 
ii. 10). 

Of these, the names most commonly nsed in the 
New Testament are (agioi) saints or holy ones, and 
ipistoi) faithful, believers, or (pi pisteuontes or pis- 
teusantes) those believing or those that believed. 
These titles were in use among the Jews before the 
coming of Christ, and are frequently to be met with, 
especially the title saints, in the Septuagint version 
of the Old Testament Scriptures. " Originally, 
these terms were descriptive of moral quality, but 
in process of time, the common acceptation of them 
became so different from their original application, 
that they implied nothing more than the distinctive 
appellation of the Christian community, composed 
both of Jews and Gentiles," * i. e. they were used to 
designate the Church membership of those to whom 

x Colman's Ancient Christianity, p. 102. 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED. 289 

they were applied. E~o more conclusive evidence 
of this could be given, than that afforded in the fact, 
that whilst Paul addresses some of his epistles to the 
Churches, e. g. his Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. i. 2), 
his first and second Epistles to the Thessalonians 
(1 Thes. i. 1, and 2 Thes. i. 1), he addresses others 
to "the saints" or "saints and faithful" e. g. his 
Epistle to the Romans (Rom. i. 7), his first and 
second Epistles to the Corinthians (1 Cor. i. 2, and 2 
Cor. i. 1), and his epistles to the Ephesians (Eph. i. 1), 
the Philippians (Phil. i. 1), and the Colossians 
(Col. i. 2). 

In this, the earlier Christian Fathers followed the 
usage of the Apostles. The titles Saint and Faith- 
ful or Believer, were given by them to very young 
children, not as persons regenerated by the Holy 
Spirit, or who had believed to the salvation of the 
soul, as the advocates of baptismal regeneration con- 
tend, but as those who had been separated unto 
God's service, and admitted to the visible Church. 
For abundant evidence of the use of these terms, in 
this sense, the reader is referred to " Taylor's Facts 
and Evidences," pp. 100-113. 1 

1 Among other instances, Taylor quotes certain sepulchral inscrip- 
tions, copied from the Catacombs at Home, dating back to the time 
of the primitive persecutions, such as, " Cyriacus, a faithful or be- 
liever, died, aged eight days less than three years." 

13 



290 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

And here, we ask the reader to notice just what 
it is for which we contend, respecting the use of the 
terms saints and faithful or believers. It is not that 
they are always used in the sense of Church mem- 
bers ; but that they are often used in this sense (as 
when used by Paul in the address of several of his 
epistles), and that we are to determine, in each par- 
ticular instance, whether they are used in this or 
their original sense, by an examination of the con- 
text. In other words, that these titles were used in 
the Apostles' day very much as we use the title 
Christian at the present day. 

As instances of the use of the terms (agioi) saints 
or holy ones and (pistoi) faithful or believers, in the 
sense of Church members, and their application to 
children, we quote, Eph. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1, 2 ; Titus, 
i. 6, 7 ; 1 Cor. vii. 14. 



§ 58. Ephesians I. 1, and Colossians 1. 1, 2. 

Eph. i. ver. 1. " Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, 
by the will of God, to the saints which are at 

" Eustafia the mother, places this in commemoration of her son 
Polychromio, a, faithful or believer, who lived three years." 

" Urcia Florentia, a faithful or believer, rests here in peace. She 
lived five years, eight months and eight days." 

Taylor's " Facts and Evidences" p. 106. 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED. 291 

Ephesus, and to the faithful" {pistols, be- 
lievers), " in Christ Jesus." 
VI. 1. " Children, obey your parents in the Lord, 
for this is right. 

2. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first 

commandment with promise). 

3. That it may be well with thee, and that thou 

mayest live long on the earth." 
Col. i. yer. 1. u Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by 

the will of God, and Timotheus our brother. 
2. To the saints and faithful" (believing) "brethren 

in Christ which are at Colosse." 
III. 20. " Children, obey your parents in all things : 

for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." 

These two passages are here placed together, be- 
cause the case presented in both is substantially the 
same, and that case may be thus stated : 

Paul addresses an epistle to certain persons at 
Ephesus, whom he styles " saints and fait hfuls" x in 
Christ Jesus. After explaining certain Gospel 
truths, in which he deems it important that they 
should be more fully instructed than they have yet 
been ;— Toward the close of the Epistle, he takes 
occasion to give some advice and admonition of a 

1 We use the terms faithful and faithfuls as nouns, in conformity 
with the use of the corresponding terms in the Greek. 



292 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

more practical character. This advice, instead of 
being addressed to the Church as a body, is addressed 
specifically to the several classes of persons who 
make up the Church, or the body of saints and faith- 
fuls at Ephesus. 

He first addresses himself to wives and husbands. 
Is, now, the question asked, What wives and hus- 
bands % we answer, Those that are saints and faith- 
fuls ; as is determined by the address of the Epistle. 
And this, our conclusion, is confirmed, by the argu- 
ments with which Paul enforces the duties enjoined. 
" Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so 
let the wives be to their own husbands in every- 
thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 
also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." 
(Eph. v. 24, 25.) For Paul to address such argu- 
ments as these to the heathen, or to any other hus- 
bands and wives than such as were "saints and 
faithfuls," would be folly. 

He afterwards addresses himself to servants and 
masters. Is now the question asked, "What servants 
and masters? we answer as before, Those that are 
" saints and faithfuls," as is determined by the ad- 
dress of the epistles. And here, again, the argu- 
ments by which Paul enforces the duties enjoined 
confirm the conclusion. "Servants be obedient to 
them that are your masters, according to the flesh, 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED. 293 

with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart 
as unto Christ. And ye masters, do the same things 
unto them, forbearing threatening ; knowing that 
your Master also is in heaven ; neither is there any 
respect of persons with him." (Eph. vi. 5, 9.) Such 
arguments could have no influence with heathen 
servants and masters. And, as if to make this mat- 
ter more plain, he follows up his address to these 
several classes of persons with, " Finally, my brethren, 
be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" 
(v. 10). 

Between his address to wives and husbands, and 
that to servants and masters, Paul addresses himself 
to children and parents. Does any one ask, What 
children and parents ? we answer in this, as in the 
other cases, to such as are saints and faithfuls, as is 
determined by the address of the Epistle. And this, 
our conclusion, is confirmed by Paul's arguments, 
" Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this 
is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the 
first commandment with promise). And ye fathers, 
provoke not your children to wrath ; but bring them 
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
(Eph. vi. 1, 2, 3.) 

Let ns suppose an analogous case. A person who 
has long been interested in the growth of the city of 
Norfolk, and has labored so much and so faithfully 



294 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

to promote its growth, as to be regarded with great 
respect by the inhabitants of that city, has, in his old 
age, published a letter addressed, To the Citizens of 
Norfolk. In this letter, after dwelling upon certain 
matters which concern the general growth, of the 
city, and to which it becomes all alike to give heed ; 
toward the close of his letter, he gives certain specific 
advice, to " merchants and mechanics," to " the rich 
and to the poor," to " masters and servants." Would 
any one hesitate to understand the advice " to mer- 
chants and mechanics," as intended for such mer- 
chants and mechanics as were citizens of Norfolk ? 

Supposing, now, that two thousand years after 
this letter is written, the question should arise, Were 
mechanics admitted to the rights of citizenship in 
Norfolk two thousand years ago ? This letter is pro- 
duced ; no one questions its genuineness or its authen- 
ticity. The letter bears the superscription, To the 
Citizens of Norfolk. Attention is called to the fact, 
that in the course of the letter, not only " the rich 
and the poor," " masters and servants," are specifi- 
cally addressed, but also "merchants and mechanics." 
Would not this fact alone be decisive of the question 
with every ingenuous inquirer ? 

To the idea that the children here addressed were 
such as had been received into the Church upon their 
own credible profession of faith, we object. 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP EECOGNIZED. 295 

1. The duty enjoined upon children, " obey your 
parents in the Lord," is a dut} r binding upon chil- 
dren from the first dawn of moral agency, and is 
enforced by reference to the fifth commandment, 
" Honor thy father and thy mother," a command- 
ment confessedly binding from the same period of 
life. And both the duty enjoined, and the command- 
ment by which it is enforced, have an especial refer- 
ence to early childhood. 

2. The exhortation addressed to fathers, which is 
but the counterpart of that addressed to children, 
would be out of place if the children were grown, or 
nearly so. " And ye fathers, bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord." If they were 
already intelligent believers, prepared to be received 
into the Church upon their own credible profession 
of faith, " bringing up in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord " would be no longer needed by them ; 
the time for such treatment on the part of the parent 
would be passed. But understand Paul to speak of 
children in the ordinary acceptation of that term, 
and children who had been brought into the Church, 
entered in the school of Christ, as children were 
under the Old Testament dispensation, and no more 
appropriate exhortation could be addressed to their 
believing parents than " bring them up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord." This is just the 



296 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

sum and the substance of the parent's covenant en- 
gagements with respect to his children, in taking 
Jehovah to be " the God of his seed after him," as 
well as "his God." 

As already remarked, the case presented in the 
Epistle to the Colossians is substantially the same 
with that presented in Ephesians, the case which we 
have been examining. In these two Epistles, then, 
and they are the only ones in which Paul specifies 
different classes of persons as making up the churches 
addressed, he mentions children among those classes. 



§ 59. Titus, I. 6. 

Ver. 6. "If any be blameless, the husband of one 
wife, having faithful (believing) children, not 
accused of riot, or unruly. 

7. Eor a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of 
God." 

Compare with this, 1. Timothy, iii. 4, 5. A bishop 
then must be, 

4. " One that ruleth well his own house, having his 

children in subjection with all gravity : 

5. (For if a man know not how to rule his own 



INFANT MEMBERSHIP RECOGNIZED. 297 

house, how shall he take care of the Church 
of God.)" 

Doddridge paraphrases this passage, " And let 
him be one that hath believing children, if he have 
any that are grown tip." 

The interpolation of a phrase which so completely 
sets aside the natural meaning of the text, as this 
does, is taking a liberty with the Word of God, 
which nothing but the most obvious necessity can 
justify ; and for which, even then, w T e should have 
very clear authority from the context. If we disre- 
gard this plain rule of interpretation, the Word of 
God may be made to teach whatever the expositor 
pleases. No such necessity exists in the case before 
us. If we understand " faithful children" here, in 
the sense of children that are Church members, we 
get an intelligible interpretation of the text without 
adding one word to what Paul has written, or taking 
one word from it. 

In favor of this interpretation, we urge : 

1. It assigns to the word "faithful" a common 
Scriptural sense of that word ; and to the word 
" children " its most common signification. 

2. It harmonizes Paul's directions respecting the 
qualifications of a bishop, given to Titus, with those 
given to Timothy, directions which were undoubtedly 

13* 



298 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

intended to be one in meaning. To " rule well one's 
own house, having his children in subjection with all 
gravity," in the Scriptural sense of the word rule 
(see Rom. xiii. 3), is to " bring np one's children in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord," and this 
is just what a parent covenants to do when his 
children are made " faithful," are entered as infant 
members in the Church of God. 

3. It makes the fitness of a person, for the office 
of a bishop, to depend upon something for which he 
can properly be held responsible, and not upon some- 
thing which rests with a sovereign God alone. No 
parent can be held directly responsible for the true 
conversion of his child to God. But every parent 
may most properly be held responsible for entering 
into covenant with God on behalf of his children, 
and for the faithful discharge of his covenant obli- 
gations. There can be no clearer evidence that such 
is the common view of parental responsibilities en- 
tertained by the Church at large, than the fact that 
no Church has ever obeyed this injunction of Paul 
in the sense which Doddridge and most Baptist 
expositors give it. There are bishops (in the Scrip- 
tural sense of the term bishop) in all our Christian 
Churches, having children " that are grown up " and 
yet unconverted, and no one thinks of this as dis- 
qualifying them for holding the office of a bishop. 



INFANT MEMBEESHIP RECOGNIZED. 299 



§ 60. I. Corinthians, YII. 12-14. 

Yer. 12. " If any brother have a wife that believeth 
not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let 
him not put her away. 

13. And the woman that hath a husband that be- 

lieveth not, and if he be pleased to dwell 
with her, let her not leave him. 

14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the 

wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified 
by the husband : else were your children un- 
clean, but now are they holy " (agia, saints 
or holy ones). 

The law of Moses expressly prohibited the inter- 
marriage of the Jews with the heathen Canaanites. 
This law is recorded in Deut. vii. 2-4. li And when 
the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, 
thou shaft smite them and utterly destroy them, 
thou shalt make no covenant with them nor shew 
mercy upon them ; neither shalt thou make mar- 
riages with them ; thy daughter thou shalt not give 
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto 
thy son. For they will turn away thy son from fol- 
lowing me, that they may serve other gods." Un- 
der this law, Ezra required the Jew who had mar- 



300 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

ried a wife from among the Canaanites, not only to 
put away his wife, but required that the children be 
sent away with their heathen mother (Ezra, x. 3). 
Such a law as this was in perfect keeping with the 
spirit of the Mosaic economy, one great object of 
which was, to keep the Israelites apart, a separate 
nation in the earth, until the coming of Christ. 

Most of the differences about doctrine which har- 
rassed the Church in the days of the Apostles, ori- 
ginated in the over-zealous, and often mistaken 
attachment of the converted Jews to the law of 
Moses. Bearing these facts in mind, it will be no 
matter of surprise to us that in the Church at 
Corinth — a Christian Church, in the midst of a 
heathen city, and yet embracing among its members 
many converted Jews (see Acts, xviii. 1-17) — the 
difficulty, which Paul is here resolving, should 
have arisen. That difficulty is about the continuance 
of the marriage connection between a believing hus- 
band or wife, and an unbelieving partner. 

That difficulty Paul resolves in v. 12, 13, " If any 
brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be 
pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. 
And the woman that hath a husband that believeth 
not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her 
not leave him." Then, in v. 14, as we understand 
him, Paul gives — 1st. A reason for this decision of 



INFANT MEMBEKSHIP RECOGNIZED. 301 

his, " for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by " 
(or to, McKnight) " the wife, and the unbelieving 
wife is sanctified by " (or to) " the husband." And, 
2d. A statement of a fact, which, upon admitted 
Jewish principles, proved his reason for his decision 
to he a valid one, " else were your children unclean, 
but now are they holy :" — the expression " else" 
(epei ara, otherwise, certainly, McKnight) marking 
this connection between the latter clause and the one 
preceding it. 

The use of the word " sanctify" (agiazo) in the 
sense of purify, cleanse, is very common in the 
Septuagint version of the Old Testament Scriptures 
(see Lev. viii. 10, 15, 30), and in the same sense it is 
frequently used by Paul (see 1 Tim. iv. 5 ; Heb. 
ix. 13). An unclean {unsanctified) person was one 
who might not be associated with by God 's people. 
"And Peter said unto them" — i. e. Cornelius and 
those assembled in the house — " Ye know how it is 
an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep 
company with, or come unto, one of another nation, 
but God hath shewed me that I should not call any 
man common or unclean" (Acts, x. 28). When, 
then, Paul affirms, " the unbelieving husband 
is sanctified hy" (or to) "the wife;" he means 
that such a husband is rendered fit for intimate 



302 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

association with, to the wife. This is just what he 
needs to affirm in solving the difficulty which has 
been proposed to him. 

Then follows Paul's proof of what he has just 
affirmed, "else" (otherwise, certainty) "were your 
children unclean, but now are they holy." The law 
of Moses, which had given rise to the difficulty, both 
by the terms of the law and the decision of Ezra, 
includes the child with the heathen parent in the 
same condemnation. As both stand or fall together, 
the condition of the one may be inferred from that 
of the other. Now, it is the unquestioned practice of 
the Church to treat the children of such a marriage 
not as unclean, i. e. unfit to be associated with, but 
as clean • they are admitted to membership in the 
Church of God, and thus become holy (agia, saints). 
Upon Jewish principles, then, it is evident from this 
fact, that the unbelieving husband or wife ought to 
be accounted " sanctified oy (or to) the believing 
partner. 

It has been objected to this interpretation, that as 
the words holy (agio), and sanctify {agiazo), are 
words from the same root, they must have the same 
signification ; and, consequently, if the application 
of the term holy to the children teaches their Church 
membership, the application of the term sanctify 



INFANT MEMBEKSHIP. 303 

to the heathen parents must teach their Church 
membership also. To this we reply, such a conse- 
quence as this by no means follows. It is a very 
common thing, in every language, for a noun to ac- 
quire a secondary meaning, whilst the corresponding 
verb retains its primitive meaning alone; and so 
also for a verb to be used in a secondary sense, in 
which the corresponding noun never occurs. 1 In 
the case before us, we assign to the noun agia a se- 
condary sense. Of its use in the New Testament, in 
this sense, we have already given abundant proof 
(see § 57). In this sense the verb agiazo is never 
used, we believe, by the sacred writers. 

In support of the interpretation which we have 
given this passage, we urge : (1,) It assigns to the 
words " sanctify, unclean, holy" a sense in which 
they are very frequently used in the E"ew Testament. 
(2,) It gives to the whole passage a meaning, which 
is not only pertinent to the position which it occu- 
pies in Paul's solution of the difficulty proposed to 
him (and this cannot be said of any other interpre- 
tation which we have seen), but it makes, v. 14, a 

1 Thus, in English, as secondary meanings of the noun Wash,, 
Webster gives, ''2, A bog, marsh or fen. 3, A cosmetic. 6. Waste 
liquor of a kitchen, for hogs. 10, The blade of an oar." The 
verb wash has no secondary meanings corresponding to these. 



304 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

decisive argument in support of that solution. 
(3,) It presents us, in this passage, an eminently 
Pauline argument ; a solution of a Jewish difficulty 
upon admitted Jewish principles. 



FAMILY BAPTISMS. 305 



CHAPTEK Yin. 

§ 61. FAMILY BAPTISMS. 
Acts, xvi. 14, 15, and 32-34 ; 1 Cor. i. 13-17. 

§ 61. Family Baptisms. 

Acts, xvi. Yer. 14. " And a certain woman, named 
Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thya- 
tira, which worshipped God, heard us : whose 
heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto 
the things spoken of Paul. 

15. And when she was baptized, and her household 
{pikos\ she besought us, saying, If ye have 
judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come 
into my house, and abide there. And she 
constrained us." 

Yer. 32. " And they spake unto him (the jailer) the 
word of the Lord, and to all that were in his 
house {pikia). 

33. And he took them the same hour of the night, 
and washed their stripes ; and was baptized, 
he and all his straightway. 



306 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

34. And when he had brought them into his house 
(oilws\ he set meat before them, and rejoiced, 
believing in God with all his house" (literally, 
"he rejoiced with all his family (pikos), he 
believing in the Lord.") 

1 Cor. i., Yer. 13. "Is Christ divided? Was Paul 
crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the 
name of Paul ? 

14. I thank God that I baptized none df you, but 

Crispus and Gaius ; 

15. Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine 

own name. 

16. And I baptized also the household (oikos) of 

Stephanas ; besides, I know not whether I 
baptized any other. 

17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach 

the Gospel." 

1. In examining the account of the baptism of the 
jailer, in Part II. (see § 44), we had occasion to 
remark that there were two different words in the 
Greek, which, in our English version, are indiscrimi- 
nately translated house and household. The one, 
oikos, in its primary sense, signifying a house, in our 
English use of that word, and in its secondary sense, 
meaning a family, excluding servants and attendants. 
The other, oihia, in its primary sense corresponding, 



FAMILY .BAPTISMS. cn-i 

very nearly, to our English word premises, and, in 
its secondary sense, meaning a family, including ser- 
vants and attendants. The first-mentioned of these 
words (pikos) is the word used to designate those 
who were baptized with Lydia, the jailer, and 
Stephanas. 

Such is the common use of the word oikos / it is 
never used in a more extended sense, but sometimes 
in the more restricted sense of children, i. e. the 
family, excluding the parents. " And Dathan and 
Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents, 
and their wives, and their sons, and their little chil- 
dren. And the earth opened her mouth and swal- 
lowed them up, and their houses (pikos), and all the 
men that appertained unto Koran, and all their 
goods." (Numb. xvi. 27, 42.) " Thus saith the Lord, 
Behold, I will raise up evil against thee (David) out 
of thine own house" (pikos). (2 Sam. xii. 11.) A 
threatening fulfilled in the rebellion of David's son 
Absalom. "One that ruleth well his own house 
(oikos), having his children in subjection with all 
gravity." (1 Tim. iii. 4.) Such is the word used by 
the sacred writers in recording the family baptisms, 
which accompanied the baptism of Lydia, the jailer, 
and Stephanas. 

2. In the words of Dr. K L. Eice, " We do not 
undertake to prove that there were infants in these 



308 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

families. We simply call attention to the remark- 
able fact, that the inspired historian mentions the 
conversion of the head of the family, and says 
nothing of the conversion of the family, but does say 
they were baptized. If he was a Pedo-Baptist, and 
if the infants of those families were baptized, he wrote 
just as he might have been expected to write. The 
fact is truly remarkable, that amongst anti-Pedo-Bap- 
tists we find no such records of the baptism of fami- 
lies. Some years ago, I took occasion to present to 
the consideration of some Baptist editors this singular 
discrepancy between the manner of recording bap- 
tisms adopted by Luke and that adopted by Baptists, 
and called on them to produce among their accounts 
of baptisms a record like that in the case of Lydia. 
They succeeded in finding a few baptisms of whole 
families, but they had been so unfortunate as to 
mention the conversion of the members of the fami- 
lies, as w r ell as their baptism. They, therefore, failed 
to find any record like that of Luke. One thing is 
certain, we write as Luke wrote, and our anti-Pedo- 
Baptist friends do not. Would it not be truly won- 
derful, should it turn out to be true, that those who 
write like Luke, do not act like him ; whilst those 
w T ho do not write like him are the very persons who 
do act like him ?" 

"But," says Dr. Carson, in reply to this argument, 



FAMILY BAPTISMS. 309 

" there are not now any examples of the abundant 
success that the Gospel had in the Apostles' days. 
We do not find that men believe by households more 
than they are baptized by households. I suppose 
that the Baptist missionaries have a baptized house- 
hold as often as they have a believing household." 
Just so. But the Apostles had household baptisms, 
in cases where, so far as the record shows, there were 
no believing households. This, precisely, is the 
difference between the Apostles and the Baptists. 
The latter, it is true, have baptized families ; but 
then, in giving an account of these baptisms, they 
always mention the faith, not only of the head of 
the family, but of all the members. The Apostles 
baptized families : and in their account of them they 
mention the faith of the heads, but not of the mem- 
bers. Dr. Carson entirely fails to account for this 
difference. If the Apostles were Pedo-Baptists, all 
is plain ; if not, the fact that they wrote so little like 
Baptists, and so much like Pedo-Baptists, is unac- 
countable." 1 

3. The number of these records of family Bap- 
tisms is sometimes spoken of as if it were inconsi- 
derable, when compared witli the whole number of 
baptisms recorded in the Word of God. And the 

1 Dr. N. L. Rice on Baptism, pp. 254, 256. 



310 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM, 

question is asked, Why is it, if family baptism was 
practised in the days of the Apostles, like family 
circumcision under the Old Testament dispensation, 
that we have so few recorded instances of it in the 
New Testament Scriptures ? To this we reply — The 
number of such records (when the matter is fairly 
examined), does not appear inconsiderable. So far 
from it — in every instance in which we have a right 
to expect such a record, on the supposition that the 
Apostles were Pedo-Baptists in practice, in every 
instance in which, at the present day, and under a 
Presbyterian ministry, there would be occasion to 
make such a record, we find a record of a family 
baptism in the Word of God. 

In the Acts of the Apostles, the only book in the 
New Testament in which we have any particular 
narrative of Christian baptisms, we have nine 
records of baptisms, less or more, particularly given 
us. Now let the reader notice: 1. Two of these are 
records of the baptism of persons having no 
children, no family (oikos) to be baptized, viz. : The 
Ethiopian eunuch, and Paul. (See 1 Cor. vii. 7.) 
2. Five are records of the baptism of large numbers 
at the same time, and on the spot where they have 
been hopefully converted, under the preaching of 
the Gospel, viz. ; The three thousand on the day of 
Pentecost — the people of Samaria, including Simon 



FAMILY BAPTISMS. 311 

Magus — the disciples of John at Ephesus — the 
"many Corinthians," including Stephanas, and Cor- 
nelius and those gathered in his house to hear Peter. 
In such cases as these, at the present day, and nnder 
a Pedo-Baptist ministry, there would be no family 
baptisms at the time (men dc not carry their infant 
children into crowded assemblies with them), al- 
though there would be afterwards. And this is just 
what we find to have been the fact, in one of these 
five cases, viz.: The baptism of the "many Corin- 
thians." By comparing Acts, xviii. 8, with 1 Cor. 
i. 16, it will be seen that the household of Stephanas 
was baptized by Paul, in all probability on a diffe- 
rent occasion, and shortly after Stephanas himself, 
with the "many" other converted Jews, had been 
baptized in the synagogue. 3. The remaining two, 
viz., the baptism of Lydia and of the jailer, are dis- 
tinctly recorded as family baptisms. 



312 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



SUMMING UP CONCLUSION. 

We have now examined all the passages of Scrip- 
ture, thought, either by Baptists or Pedo-Baptists, to 
throw light upon the question respecting the proper 
subjects of baptism. Let us bring together the 
results of this examination. 

First. In tracing back the history of the Church, 
as given us in the Word of God, we find infant-mem- 
bers included in that Church, even before the days 
of Abraham; each pious family constituting a little 
Church, of which the father was the officiating 
priest, and all the children members. When God 
gave his Church her formal charter, in his covenant 
with Abraham, this right of infant membership is 
expressly and solemnly established; and this, with- 
out any intimation that it should ever cease. § 50. 

Second. The visible Church of God has ever been 
essentially one and the same ; has had the same 
charter — God's covenant with Abraham; has pos- 
sessed the same character — a school of Christ ; — the 
first Christian Church ever existing upon earth 
being simply the Old Testament Church, purged of 
the Apostasy, as is evident from the history of that 
Church, as is given us in the Acts, and the inspired 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 313 

representations contained in the Epistles. §§ 48, 49, 
50, 51, 52. 

Third. Of this right of infant membership, thus 
existing as far back as we can trace the history of 
the Church, and expressly and solemnly established in 
the one only written charter, ever given of God to 
the Church, the Scriptures contain no repeal. Bap- 
tist writers have attempted to show a repeal by 
implication. 

1. In Christ's commission to his Church, recorded 
in Mark, xvi. 16. This commission, as we have 
seen, is simply the foreign missionary commission of 
the Church, and correctly interpreted, gives no 
countenance to the idea of any repeal of infant-mem- 
bership : nor can it be made to countenance Baptist 
views, without making it teach infant-damnation, 
and infant-damnation for lack of baptism — doctrines 
which the Baptist will be as unwilling to admit as 
we. § 46. 

2. In those passages of Scripture which teach the 
spiritual import of baptism. The spiritual import 
of circumcision, as we have seen, is the same with 
that of baptism, a the circumcision of Christ." The 
same reasoning, then, which would give us hence, a 
repeal of infant-membership in the days of the 
Apostles, would carry back that repeal to the days 
of Abraham; the same argument which will pro- 

14 



314 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

hibit infant baptism under the Christian dispensa- 
tion, will just as strongly prohibit infant circum- 
cision under the Old Testament dispensation. The 
same in their spiritual import, the two, in so far as 
all such reasoning is concerned, must stand or fall 
together. § 47. 

Fourth. The Lord Jesus, the one head of the 
Church, recognizes infant membership in the 
Church of God, as existing in his day, and toward 
the close of his public ministry ; and this, not only 
without any intimation that it was shortly to cease, 
but in such a way as clearly to imply its continu- 
ance. § 53. 

Fifth. The Lord Jesus, in renewing Peter's 
apostolic commission, does it in terms which could 
not but have recalled to Peter's mind the rebuke he 
had received for " forbidding little children " to be 
brought to Christ ; and which seem utterly inexpli- 
cable upon the supposition that children are now, 
for the first time, to be thrown beyond the range of 
the Church's pastoral care. § 54. 

Sixth. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, when for 
for the first time Christian baptism was preached 
among men, preached it in the very terms of God 's 
covenant with Abraham ; a covenant in which the 
right of infant membership is expressly acknow- 
ledged and established. § 55. 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 315 

Seventh. The first Christian Church ever existing 
upon earth, was constituted of members received 
into the Church in infancy, and by circumcision — 
was, in fact, but the Old Testament Church (a 
Church in which the right of infant membership has 
never been questioned) purged — the apostasy cut 
off, the election remaining. If then I, an adult, 
have a standing in the Church of God, in virtue of my 
infant membership, this much is certain ; my stand- 
ing is just such as the "hundred and twenty" — in- 
cluding the Apostles, excepting Paul — occupied to 
the day of their death. Does any Baptist object to 
my Church standing — you were not baptized when 
you believed in Jesus — my answer is, Neither were 
the Apostles. It is enough for me that I came into 
the Church, and now stand in the Church as they 
did. § 52. 

Eighth. Children are expressly spoken of as 
Church members, in the New Testament ; in defin- 
ing the qualifications of a Bishop (§ 59) ; in deciding 
a question about the continuance of a marriage rela- 
tion between a believing husband or wife and an 
unbelieving partner (§ 60) ; and in two of Paul ? s 
epistles (and these, let it be remarked, the only two 
in which he addresses himself to particular classes 
of Church members,) he addresses himself specifically 
to children as one of these classes (§ 58). That 



316 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

under this our Christian dispensation, baptism is the 
divinely-appointed rite of initiation into the Church, 
just as circumcision was under a former dispensa- 
tion, all are agreed. Infant membership, then, in- 
fers infant baptism ; the two stand or fall together. 

Ninth. We have express records of family bap- 
tisms in the New Testament, and these records made 
in just such' terms as Pedo-Baptists are accustomed 
to make their records at the present day. And the 
number of these records is not inconsiderable. So 
far from it, in every instance in which a Christian 
baptism is recorded, and not recorded as a family 
baptism, the Scriptures themselves give us a reason 
why it was not a family baptism. 



CONCLUSION. 

That infant membership in the Church was estab- 
lished by God, in the days of Abraham, no one 
questions. That it has ever been repealed, the 
Scriptures contain not one particle of proof; but, on 
the contrary, the New Testament is full of evidence, 
and this of various kinds, that this right continues 
as of old. 

The two grand characteristic truths of Christianity 
are — Atonement and Reqeneration. And these two 



SUMMING UP — CONCLUSION. 317 

truths have been presented to the faith of the 
Church, not only on the written page of revelation, 
hut by symbol also, under every dispensation. 

The great truth of Atonement, once symbolized in 
bloody sacrifices before Christ's death, under this 
our better dispensation, is set forth in the bread and 
wine in the Sacrament of the Lord 's Supper. 

The other great truth of Regeneration, under the 
Old Testament dispensation symbolized in all the 
purifying rites appointed of God, but especially in 
circumcision, a rite most appropriate whilst the hope 
of the world's regeneration rested upon the coming 
of " a blessed and blessed-making seed," * is now, 

1 " The general purport of the covenant" (i. e. God's covenant with 
Abraham) " was, that from Abraham, as an individual, there was to 
be generated a seed of blessing, in which all real blessing was to 
centre, and from which it was to flow to the ends of the earth. 
There could not, therefore, be a more appropriate sign of the cove- 
nant than such a rite as circumcision — so distinctly connected with 
the generation of offspring, and so distinctly marking the necessary 
purification of nature — the removal of the filth of the flesh — that the 
offspring might be such as really to constitute a seed of blessing. It is 
through ordinary generation that the corruption incident to the fall 
is propagated ; and hence, under the law, which contained a regular 
system of symbolic teaching, there were so many occasions of defile- 
ment traced to this source, and so many means of purification appointed 
for them. Now, therefore, when God was establishing a covenant, the 
great object of which was to reverse the propagation of evil, to secure 
for the world a blessed and a blessed-makiDg seed, he affixed to it this 



318 THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

that the promised seed has come, and prepared the 
way for the coming of the Comforter," the abundant 
outpouring of the regenerating, sanctifying Spirit 
of God as appropriately set forth in water baptism. 
In its essential character, the visible Church of 
God has ever been the depository of " the oracles of 
God " (Rom. iii. 2), the school of Christ, in which 
disciples are to be taught " all things whatsoever he 
has commended " (Matt, xxviii. 20). The end in 
view, in all this, is that the disciple may be sancti- 
fied through the truth ; and hence the initiatory rite 
of the Church has ever been a symbol of regenera- 
tion. Under this our Christian dispensation, the 
child is born as much a sinner, and as ignorant 
a sinner, as under the old ; and, therefore, need- 
ing to be entered a disciple at as early an age now 
as then. And until it can be shown that God has 
changed the character of his Church, or has forbid- 
den us to bring our children to Jesus, the great 
Prophet, Teacher of our profession (and the Scrip- 
tures give no countenance to any such ideas), we 
claim the right of Church membership, secured by 

symbolic rite, to shew that the end was to be reached, not as the result 
of nature's ordinary productiveness, but of nature purged from its 
uncleanness — nature raised above itself, in league with the grace of 
God, and bearing on it the distinctive impress of his character and 
working." — Fairbairn's Typology of Scriptures, vol. 1, pp. 321, 322. 



SUMMING UP CONCLUSION. 319 

charter in Abraham's day and never repealed, to 
enter our little one's disciples in Christ's school. 

To him who would forbid the Christian parent 
thus to do, we commend the careful study of Christ's 
rebuke, administered to his disciples, "Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, 
for of such is the kingdom of God." § 53. 



SCEIPTURAL INDEX 



OLD TESTAMENT. 

Genesis, xvii. 4-8, 12, 
Deuteronomy, xxx. 6, 
2 Kings, v. 14, 
Isaiah, xii. 7, 



APOCRYPHA. 

Ecclesiasticus, xxxiv. 25, 
Judith, xii. 7, 



NEW TESTAMENT. 



Matthew. 



III. 1-6, 
" V, 8, 11, 
" 13-17, 

XIX. 13-15, 

XX. 20-23, 

XXI. 25, 
XXVIII. 19, 20, 



§ 15 
§ 16 




Mark. 



I. 4-10, 
" 9-11, 




VII. 1-4, 

X. 13-16, 
" 35-40, 

XI. 30, 
XVI. 15, 16, 



Luke. 



III. 3, 

" V, 8, 12, 
" 16, 
" 21, 22, 
VII. 29, 30, 

XI. 37, 38, 

XII. 49, 50, 
XVIII. 15-17, 
XX. 4, 
XXIV. 47-49, 



John. 



I. 19-25, 
"26, 
11 32, 33, 
" 33, 
« 28, 

III. 22-30, 
" 23, 

IV. 1, 2, 



18 
53 
21 
29 

46 



29 
29 
24 
30 
29 
18 
21 
53 
29 
46 



§ 24 

§ 30 
§ 24 
§38 

J 5 
§ 39 

§5 



821 



322 



SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 



X. 40, 
XXI. 15, 



Acts. 



I. 4-8, 
" 22, 

II. 1-4, 

" 16-18, 
" 32, 33, 
" 38-41, 
" 41, 

III. 24-26, 

VIII. 12, 13, 16, 
" 36-39, 

IX. 17-18, 

X. 37, 

" 44-48, 

XI. 15, 16, 
XIII. 24, 
XVI 14, 15, 

" 32-34, 

XVIII. 8, 

" 24-26, 

XIX. 1-7, 
XXII. 12-16, 



54 



§24 

§ 24, § 29 

§ 24 



41, 



§24, 



§44, 



§42, 



Romans. 



II. 28, 29, 

III. 1, 2, 

IV. 11, 

" 11-17, 
VI. 1-6, 
IX. 8, 
XI. 18- 24, 



1 Corinthians. 



I. 13-17, 
VII. 12-14, 



§47 
§48 
§47 
§50 
34, § 35 
§ 50 
§51 



X. 1, 2, 
XII. 12, 13, 
XV. 29, 



III. 7-9, 
" 26-29 



Galatians. 



Ephesians. 



25, 



§26, 



22 

47 
37 



50 
47 



I. ] 


, 








5 58 


II. 


11-14, 
19-22, 








| 51 

5 51 


IV 


3-6, 








27 


VI 


1-3, 






S 58 






Colossians. 








I. 


L, 2, 








5 58 


II. 

u 


10-12, 

11, 

12, 




§ 


34,| 


5 36 

5 47 
5 47 


III 


. 20, 








\ 58 



VI. 1, 2, 
IX. 9, 10, 



III. 18-22, 



Titut. 



Hebrews. 



1 Peter. 



§59 



20 
19 



§23 



CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS. 65 



SitoniU 



CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS. 

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS, with a Memoir, by H. J. Tonka. 1 vol., 18mo $0 5C 

HELEN FLEETWOOD, 1 vol., ISmo 5C 

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THE SIEGE OF DERRY, do. 50 

LETTERS FROM IRELAND, do 50 

THE ROCKITE, do 50 

FLORAL BIOGRAPHY, do 50 

PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS, do 50 

PASSING THOUGHTS, | - kc 

FALSEHOOD AND TRUTH, f ao °* 

IZRAM, a Mexican Tale, ) . Kn 

OSRIC, a Missionary Tale, J a0 OU 

CONFORMITY, | - KA 

THE CONVENT BELL, a Tale, f ao ou 

THE ROCKITE ..** do 50 

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS. Uniform edition, 12 vols., lBmo., in cloth 
or skeej}. Price $6 00. 

We have received numerous commendatory notices of Charlotte Elisabeth'3 works, 
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benefit of those who have not supplied themselves with her books, we insert here a few 
which are believed to be a fair specimen of the opinion of the Press. 

" Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna Is one of the most gifted, popular, and truly instruc 
tive writers of the present day. In clearness of thought, variety of topics, richness of 
imagery, and elegance of expression, it is scarcely too much to say, that she is the rival 
of Hannah More, or to predict that her works will be as extensively and profitably read 
as those of the most delightful female writer of the last generation. All her writings are 
pervaded by justness and purity of sentiment,. and the highest reverence for morality 
and religion ; and may safely be commended as of the highest interest and value to every 
family in the land." — Morning News. 

" If Charlotte Elizabeth were not one of the most attractive and useful writers of the 
age, we might perhaps be ready to say that she was in danger of surfeiting the public 
appetite, by her numerous productions ; but as it is, we are constrained to say the oftener 
she shows herself as an author the better. Her works never tire ; and we are never even 
in doubt in respect to their useful tendency." — Religious Spectator. 

" Charlotte Elizabeth's works have become so universally known, and are so highly and 
deservedly appreciated in this country, that it has become almost superfluous to mention 
them. We doubt exceedingly whether there has been any female writer since Mrs. Han- 
nah More, whose works are likely to be so extensively and so profitably read as hers. 
She thinks deeply and accurately, is a great anylist of the human heart, and withal 
clothes her thoughts in most appropriate and eloquent language." — Albany Argu$. 



LIFE OF ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D.D. 



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BY REV. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D. 

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ever afforded, in Church or State." — Baptist Cincinnati Journal and Messenger. 

" As a memorial of a beloved and venerated teacher, and of an able, learned, and 
faithful minister of the gospel, it will be welcomed by thousands, and read with interest." 
— Christian Observer. 

" This judicious and well-written biography has a two-fold interest in the historical and 
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" His intellect was one of great grasp, and yet extreme nicety of perception ; his elo- 
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Archibald Alexander." — Courier <& Enquirer. 

" It is replete with surpassing interest to all." — Presbyterian Banner. 

" The model biography."— -iv'. Y. Observer. 

"We find the style of the work as admirable as its theme is interesting. When we say 
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"It admirably illustrates the character of Dr. Alexander, and presents him as he was 
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from all affectation in his piety." — Presbyterian. 

" This work has manifold claims upon the attention of the Christian public. With a 
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extent of learning, and a power of eloquence, a depth of Christian feeling, and a general 
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Argus. 

" A more valuable contribution to Christian biography has not been made, in any part 
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" It traces Dr. Alexander's whole course from the cradle to the grave, showing the 
various influences that operated to the development of his faculties and the formation of 
his character on the one hand, and the mighty power which he exerted for the benefit of 
the Church and the world on the other. The book contains an exact and breathing por- 
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honored, and most useful of our American clergymen." — Puritan, Recorder. 



50 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHAS. SCRIBNER. 



Fourth Thousand, Imprnved Edition, with a New Index. 

CYCLOPEDIA OF MISSIONS. 

BY REV. HARVEY NEWCOMB. 

One vol., large Octavo, double columns, 700 pages, Price $3 00. Embrac- 
ing a Comprehensive Yiew of all the Missionary Operations in the World, 
with Geographical Descriptions, Condition of the Unevangelized, &c. : 
together with the Religious Movements of the Age 5 under Alphabeti- 
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Rev. xx., 1-3, and Thirty Missionary Maps. 

TESTIMONIALS. 

" Missionary House, Boston, Sept. 27, 1854. 
" It has seamed to us for some time, that a work which shall exhibit the operations of 
the different Missionary Societies throughout the world, is very much needed. The num- 
ber of Christians in the United States, who desire this kind of information, is constantly 
increasing; indeed, we are often asked to point out the sources where it can be found. 
Hitherto we have been unable to give a satisfactory reply. 

"It has given us great pleasure, therefore, to hear of Mr. Newcomb's intention to pre- 
pare a ' Cyclopedia of Missions.' His qualifications for such an undertaking we regard 
as somewhat rare ; and we have no doubt that he will supply a want that has been felt 
extensively in our Churches. We shall rejoice to hear that the enterprise is generally 
approved and patronised. 

"R. ANDERSON, ) 
S. B. TREAT, I Secretaries of the 
S. L. POMROY, f A. B. V. F. M." 
G. W. WOOD, J 

"Missionary Rooms, Boston, Dec. 1, 1853. 
" Rev. H. Newcomb. — Dear Sir — Your proposal to prepare and publish a Cyclopedia of 
Missions has been received with much pleasure. The want of such a book, presenting a 
comprehensive view of the fields, operations, and history of missions, derived from 
authentic sources of information, has been seriously felt by those who have occasion to 
investigate the subject. If the work is faithfully executed, as I cannot doubt it will be, 
it will prove highly useful and acceptable. Respectfully and truly yours, 

" EDW. BRIGHT, Jun., Corresponding Secretary 

" American Baptist Missionary Union.'''' 

" New York, Oct. 21, 1853. 
"I cordially concur with others, better qualified than myself to judge in such a matter, 
as to the desirableness and importance of the work proposed to be published by Mr. New- 
comb. His previous publications, as well as the recommendation of the American Board 
of Commissioners to Foreign Missions, are a sufficient guaranty that his present task will 
be executed with fidelity and care; and I cannot doubt that it will be interesting and 
useful, not onty to the Christian public, but to all who wish to keep up their acquaintance 
•with the great movements of the age. 

"B. F. BUTLER." 



newcomb's cyclopedia of missions. 51 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO THE AUTHOR. 

From a distinguished Metlwdist Minister. 
"I am more than ever satisfied that the plan of your book is the only one that will find 
favor with the various churches." 

From liev. J. Payne. D.D., Missionary Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 

West Africa. 
" I trust I feel too deeply the importance to the cause of missions of the enterprise in 
which you are engaged, not to be willing to do anything in my power for its advance- 
ment." 

From Rev. F. De W. Ward, late Missionary in India. 
" A happier thought could hardly have occurred to your mind than the preparation of 
such a volume." 

From Rev. J. Scudder. M.D., Missionary in India. 
" I wish you every success, my dear brother, in your excellent labors. I have no doubt 
that your work, when published, will be just that work which is so much needed." 

From Rev. Dr. Poor, Missionary in Ceylon. 
" May the sovereign and gracious Lord of the mission-harvest speed and prosper you 
in your great and good undertaking." 

From Rev. Dr. Perkins, Oroomiah, May, 1854. 
" The work you propose is exceedingly desirable and important; and judging from the 
fruits of your pen, which I have from time to time been so much favored as to receive, 

through our common friends, Mr. and Mrs. , I am happy in the belief that this 

great undertaking is fortunate in having fallen into your hands. With all my heart, I 
wish you the fullest success." 

From Miss Cynthia Farrar, of the Alimednuggur Mission. 
"We both (Mrs. Graves and herself) rejoice that the Lord has stirred up your heart 
and mind to the work of preparing a comprehensive view of missions." 

From Rev. C. Byington, of the Choctaw Mission. 
" I am glad you are engaged in this very work. There is ne-ed of it." 

From the New York. {Baptist) Recorder. 
" Such a work, thoroughly prepared, will be of great practical value, giving to the 
friends of missions not only distinct and comprehensive views of their own denomina- 
tional fields, but of the fields occupied, and the labor performed by all branches of the 
Christian family. We believe the work to be worthy of patronage, and commend it to our 
readers." 

From a Pastor in the State of New York. 
" It gives me pleasure to hear that you are preparing a Cyclopedia of Missions. I have 
often felt the need of it." 

From a Pastor in Michigan. 
" I feel the need of such a work. At the West, we are not supplied with statistics, maps, 
history, &c, of missions, in such form and fulness as to meet our wants. We are often 
very much crippled in our efforts as Pastors, in presenting the work and wants of 
missions." 



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61 



GENIUS AND FAITH; 

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RELIGIOUS. 63 



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and is marked by great thoughtfulness and candor." — N. Y. Commercial. 



MERCANTILE MORALS. 

A BOOK FOR YOUNG MERCHANTS, 
BY REV. W. H. VAN DO REN. 
1 vol., 16mo., cloth. Price 88 cents. 
"It discourses wealth, the morals of trade, the dangers of young merchants in society, 
Sabbath desecration, sale of ardent spirits, &c, &c. It is a book full of interest and im- 
portance, and may be read by all with profit."— Daily American. 

" This volume deserves to be placed by every parent or employer in the hands of each 
young man as he enters mercantile life." — N. Y. Commercial. 
"It should be in the library of every merchant."— The Republic 



BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHA.S SCRIBNER. -15 



HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE IN SUBURB ANT) 
COUNTRY; 

OR, THE VILLA, THE MANSION, AND THE COTTAGE. 

Adapted to American Climate and Wants. 

BY GERVASE WHEELER, Architect, 

AUTHOR OF "RTTKAL HOMES," ETC. 
1 vol. 12mo. With 100 Engravings. $1 50. 

This work is to supply a want that, in the opinion of the Publishers, has not as yet been 
fnily met. Other books have been presented, offering models for house builders, but they 
have generally been the crude notions and sketches of men of literary and artistic talent 
idther than of practical skill. 

In the present volume, not only the stored hints of a long and successful practice in his 
profession of an architect have been offered, but the plans elucidating his remarks have had 
the benefit of realization and of mature tnought and examination. 

In its pages the reader will find an amount of information that will satisfy nearly his everj 
want ; and in the plans examples of every class of house required by the people throughout 
the land, from the economically constructed cottage of six or seven hundred dollars to the 
mansion of thirty thousand. 

" The author is a man thoroughly versed in his profession — with natural taste, cultivated 
oy experience, whom any man might safely consult as an architect, and whose book will 
prove a treasure of practical hints to any about to build in city or country." — Hartfori 
Courant. 

" Many valuable hints are presented in this volume." — N. Y. Tribune. 

"The author is a professional architect. He explains the principles according to which a 
house of any price almost should be built. His pages furnish many valuable hints." — Utica 
Herald. 

" This work is issued in beautiful style. The designs are tasteful, and the whole charac 
ter of the book is such as to commend it to public attention. It is adapted to builders of 
every class — it has suggestions for houses of all ranges of cost in the city or country." 
Boston Transcript. 

" Good taste, practical common sense, and an eye to the usages of the country appear 
throughout the work, while its designs and illustrations will prove an invaluable assistance 
to those who wish to build, and to build wisely and well." — N. Y. Evangelist. 

" The author's study has been to furnish models for convenient, tasteful, and even elegant 
suburban and country dwellings, from the lowest to a high cost, and to afford all the neces- 
sary information for their construction. We should like to see such books wide spread, as 
our national architecture needs improvement." — Phi/a. Presbyterian. 

" There are abundance o*" books on architecture and on landscape gardening, but an actual 
absence of such another volume as the present. The designs are exceedingly tasteful, and 
imbued with the highest spirit of architectural beauty." — New York Express 



18 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHAS. SCRIBNER. 



Jtoittft 33taMt'* Ktok 



LIFE OF SIR WALTER SOOTT. 

BY DONALD MACLEOD. 
1 vol., 12mo., cloth, with portrait. Price $1. 

" This is a model biography. The author has delineated the character of him onco 
styled the Great Unknown, so that all who read these pages may know him, and cherish 
for him a personal attachment." — Christian Intelligencer. 

" This is a most delightful and even fascinating volume. Its fascination consists in the 
clear flow of its narration, warm with a glowing love for its subject, and all over gemmed 
with racy and sparkling anecdote. 

" It tells the story of the great wizard's life with simple directness, condensing the more 
elaborate narratives of others, and culling from them only the more salient and spicy 
facts of his biography, thus making it one of the agreeable books of the season." — Watch' 
man and Observer. 

" We can but commend this work to our readers as one of unflagging interest, from the 
beginning to the end ; written in language simple but often exceedingly picturesque, and 
always in keeping with the particular theme in hand." — Knickerbocker Magazine. 

"A fresher, pleasanter, more vivacious biography we have seldom read." — Temp. 
Courier. 

" We should not be surprised if this Life of the ' Author of Waverley ' finds as many 
readers as anything which has before been written about the true 'Wizard of the North.' " 
—The Presbyterian. 

" It is written with great care and judgment, and portrays the remarkable career of 
the great novelist with an exactness and fidelity that renders it as valuable as a work of 
reference, as it is interesting in its subject." — Rome Gazette. 

" With a loving, reverential spirit, and a fair power of discernment, he has drawn a 
graceful outline of the personal life and character of Sir Walter. It is peculiarly a book 
for the people, and as such has its charms ; and yet no one, however familiar he may be 
with the Great Magician of the North, will read it without pleasure." — New York Courier 
<md Enquirer. 



THE BLOODSTONE. 

BY DONALD MACLEOD. 
1 vol., 12mo*., cloth. Price 75 cents. 

"His style is chaste and yet animated, and, without being studded with formal senti- 
ments, is deeply imbued with pure and genial feeling." — Courier & Enquirer. 

"The merit of the book lies in its picturesque descriptions of scenery, and the fidelity 
with which it enters into the sunny side of early life." — N. Y. Albion. 

" The writer has earned bright laurels by his former pu ;iications, but we have seen 
nothing from his pen that shows so much depth and power of both thought and feeling aa 
thiB." — Albany Argus. 



MISCELLANEOUS 41 



"J. WORK THAT SHOULD B™ IN EVERY LIBRARY." 

LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

BY GEORGE VAN SANTVOORD. 

1 vol., 8vo., cloth. With Portrait. Price $2 25. 

" This is truly a work of sterling value and should have a place in every library thai 
pretends to anything like completeness. The book is valuable for its biographical informa- 
tion respecting these distinguished men, but more so, as it traces the history of the Fede- 
ral judiciary from its earliest beginning." — Christian Intelligencer. 

" It is written freely and fluently ; appears to be learned and candid in its representa- 
tions, and is a work of decided interest." — N. Y. Evangelist. 

" The work is ably, faithfully, clearly and impartially written. It is a valuable acquisi- 
tion to the library of any man, and ^serves the patronage of the public." — Hartford 
Couraiit. 

" Mr. Van S. has brought out in this volume some of the most important facts in the 
history of these illustrious jurists. His style is concise and vigorous. * * * The book 
should have a place in the library of every intelligent citizen." — Troy Times. 

" These biographies contain much that is new, valuable and interesting, in regard to 
the private histories and public services of these worthies, and which make this volume a 
most valuable contribution to our present stock of American biography. They are 
written in an impartial and candid spirit, free from political and other prejudices, and 
manifest alike a commendable industry in the collection of the materials, and a successful 
discrimination in their arrangement." — Boston Atlas. 

" This volume deserves a place in the library of every American lover of general lite- 
rature, as well as of every lawyer." — Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

" This work is one that should be in every library, and read by everybody."— Rochester 
Advertiser. 

NEW SERIES. 

BY T. S. ARTHUR. 

SPARING- TO SPEND ; or, the Loftons and the Pinkertons. By T. S. Arthur. 1 vol., 

ISmo. Price 75 cents. 
THE OLD MAN'S BRIDE. By T. S. Arthur. 1 vol., 18mo. Price 75 cents. 
HEART HISTORIES and Life Pictures. By T. S. Arthur. 1 vol., 18mo. Price 75 cents. 
HOME LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. By T. S. Arthur. 1 vol., 18mo. Price 75 cents. 

Mr. Arthur's tales are all of the most beautiful tendency. He selects his subjects from 
every-day life, and treats them in such a manner that the reader almost feels that he it 
reading a chapter from the experience of those by whom he is constantly surrounded. 
While it is no part of his design to excite surprise by violent and improbable incidents, 
he always succeeds in fixing the attention of the reader. His constant endeavor is to 
awaken in the minds of his readers kindly feelings, and ready sympathy for their .'ellow 
creatures. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 15 



VENICE, THE CITY OF THE SEA. 

PROM THE INVASION OF NAPOLEON, IN 1797, TO THE CAPITULATION TO 
RADETZKY IN 1849. WITH A COTEMPORANEOUS VIEW OF THE PENINSULA. 

BY EDMUND FLAGG. 

LATE CONSUL OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE PORT OF VENICE. 

2 vols., 12mo., cloth, with Map and Seven Engravings. Price $2 50 
(4th edition.) 

" He has put forth a work, which for clearness of diction and elegance of style, for 
order and method in its arrangement, for the perspicuity of its military details, and foi 
its display of an intimate knowledge of the historical and political events to be recorded, 
is hardly equalled by any similar work of the present day. This history, in the romantic 
interest which attaches to the City of the ' Terrible Ten,' and in its details of heroic valor 
and enduring fortitude in the midst of famine and bombardment, of pestilence and 
blockade, will favorably compare with Prescott's Conquest of Mexico." — Washington 
Union. 

" Mr. Flagg's elegant production is the result of several years of experience, study, and 
compilation of all that is most lovely and romantic of that charming and supernatural 
city of Venice. The painting of scenes and incidents in the City of the Sea, has a great 
deal of the grace and the gentle beauty of Washington Irving's most familiar and popular 
writings." — St. Louis Intelligencer. 

" When we opened Mr. Flagg's book we found a carefully compiled, poetically written 
digest of the history of that glorious old Venice, its Doges, its Councils, its glory and its 
loves, and a passionate, thrilling, yet accurate and sympathising account of the last 
struggle for Independence." — The Knickerbocker. 

" These volumes exhibit thorough research, careful observation, and a discriminating 
use of materials. The style is animated, and the descriptive passages are sometimes 
highly graphic and picturesque." — iV. Y. Independent. 

" He writes with frankness and intelligence ; never grows prosy ; and his vivid portrait- 
ures impress themselves on the memory." — 2T. Y. Tribune. 

" Mr. Flagg has embodied in these volumes information concerning Venice which has 
long been sought for. They will prove invaluable to the student as well as to the politi- 
cian, as books of reference. This work is written in a graceful and pleasing style, not 
stiffly historical nor too highly wrought — but truthful and forcible. No library will be 
complete without this book." — Buffalo Journal. 

"These handsome volumes are full of interest and instruction, comtlaing as they do 
many of the excellences and advantages of history and travels."— Boston Traveller. 



Illustrated Edition. 
PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 

BY M. F. TUP PER. 

A new edition, with 40 Original Illustrations. 1 vol., 8vo., morocco, $3 

cloth, full gilt, $2 50 ; cloth, plain, $1 75. 



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